The first three questions in the ABRSM Grade Six Music Theory Exam are all about harmony - but
what exactly do we mean by "harmony"?
When we look at music with our analytical hats on, we can think about it in two different ways. We
can look at it from left to right - this is the melody and rhythm. Or, we can look at it from top to
bottom - this is the harmony.

For example, here are a few bars by Bach from his "O haupt voll Blut und Wunden".
There are 4 melodic lines (or "voices") here, the soprano, alto, tenor and bass.
On each beat of the bar, those four voices combine to make chords. The science of how we combine
notes into chords, and how the chords work together, is called "harmony".

Tonal Harmony

For Grade 6, we are going to study Tonal Harmony.
This just means that we're going to focus on the kinds of chords used by composers from roughly the
17th to the 19th centuries - composers like Bach, Mozart, Haydn and Schubert.

Grade Six Harmony

In this part of the course we're going to study:

• How chords are built
• Different naming systems to describe chords
• Chord inversions
• Chord progressions and cadences
• How to choose chords to harmonize a melody (Q.1a in the exam)
• How to understand "figured bass" (which is a chord short-hand system)
• How to complete a bass line and add a suitable figured bass (Q.1b in the exam)
• How to recognise "melodic decoration" (which means notes which aren't part of the main
chords)
• How to realise a figured bass (Q.2 in the exam)

A chord is any group of notes which are played at the same time.
Chords can have any number of notes in them, as long as there is more than one!
Chords can have any combination of notes in them, but our ears usually prefer listening to chords
which are built to the rules of harmony, rather than just a random selection of notes!
These chords are built according to the rules of "tonal harmony". (Don't worry about the names of
the chords for now!)

C major G minor C# dim 7 Neapolitan 6th

Whereas these chords were created by my cat walking across my piano keyboard (he's never studied
harmony).

As we just saw, chords built using the rules of tonal harmony have names. There are a few different
methods we can use to describe chords in words, and we'll take a look at these shortly. Before that,
we'll go back to the basics of how to build chords in tonal harmony - using TRIADS.

Triads

A triad is a 3-note chord. Take a note (call it the "root"), add a third and a fifth above it, and you have
created a triad. (All triads are chords, but not all chords are triads.)

We can also build a triad with a minor 3rd and a diminished 5th, like this:

This is called a diminished triad.

Scales and Triads

Each scale has a group of triads whose roots are each degree of the scale. Here's the scale of C
major, in triads:

Look at each degree of the major scale and see if it produces a major, minor or diminished triad.

This pattern is the same for all major keys.

Let's do the same with a minor scale - here's the group of triads which exist in A minor:

We normally use the harmonic (not melodic) variety of the scale to work out triads in music theory.
But in practice, triads from the melodic scale will also be common.
! Chord 3 is an augmented triad- rarely used in practice.

1. We can use the letter name of the root of the triad, and then add either "major", "minor" or
"diminished" (or "augmented") to it.
E.g. C major (or just "C" for short), E minor (or "Em") and B diminished ("B dim").

2. We can use Roman numerals. Each degree of the scale gets a Roman numeral. We use capitals for
major, small letters for minor, and a small circle ° for diminished. (Augmented chords have a + sign,
but we don't use them in grade 6.)

Major Scales:
1 2 3 4 5 6 7

I ii iii IV V vi vii°

Minor Scales:
1 2 3 4 5 6 7

i ii° - iv V VI vii°

3. We can use the technical name of the degree of the scale, plus major/minor/diminished as
needed.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7

The Roman numeral system is the most useful, because it lets us understand the triad in relation to
the key of the music, and it's a nice, short way of writing triads.
Make sure you learn the Roman numerals!

Triads are very "theoretical" things - we use them a lot when we analyse music, but we don't see
them so often in practice. Triads only have 3 notes, but in real life, chords usually have more than 3
notes. Very often they have 4 notes, but can have many more.
The simplest kind of 4-note chord is a triad with the root repeated in a higher octave. (Sometimes
the third or fifth of the triad is repeated instead of the root.)

The triad of C major: The chord of C major:
Chords which contain only the notes which already exist in the triad use the same naming systems as
triads, so this is C major, or I (in the key of C major).

Another kind of 4-note chord is one which has a note added which doesn't exist in the triad, for
example this one:

Here we've got a G major triad, with an F at the top. F is an interval of a 7th above the root, G, so we
call this chord G7, or V7 (in C major). Or we can use the technical name of "dominant seventh" (in C
major). Dominant seventh chords are extremely common.
You've probably come across lots of them in your music making, but in fact for grade six music
theory, you only need to be able to recognise them - you don't have to actually write any! :)

We know that triads are built using a root, 3rd and 5th. When we built triads in lesson 2 we always
wrote the root as the lowest note (or bass note) of the chord.
However, we can choose another note of the triad to use as the bass note, without changing the
basic nature of the triad.
We don't always use the root of the chord as the bass note when harmonizing music, because it
tends to sound quite boring after a while.
When a chord's lowest note is not its root, we say the chord is inverted (like turned upside down).
Let's look at inversions in more detail. We'll use the C major triad, to make things easier.

Root Position

The root of C major is C. When the root is the In the Roman numeral system, we write the
lowest note in the chord, we say the chord is letter "a" to show a chord is in root position.
in root position. For example, "Ia" means a tonic chord with
the root as the lowest note.
Root position chords are extremely common.

First Inversion

Let's change the order of the notes so that the In Roman numerals, we write "b" to show 1st
lowest note, or "bass note" is an E. We are inversion. "Ib" means a tonic chord with the
using the third of the triad, instead of the third of the triad in the bass.
root. First inversion chords are quite common.

Second Inversion

When we put the 5th of the triad as the bass ! Second inversion chords are quite rare. We
note, we have a second inversion chord. don't normally use 2nd inversions, except in
special circumstances, for example, the
"cadential 6/4".
NEVER use a 2nd inversion chord unless you
are sure you know what you're doing!
In Roman numerals, we write "c" to show 2nd
inversion. "Ic" means a tonic chord with the
5th of the triad in the bass.

The way we place chords next to each other is called "chord progression".
There is, of course, an infinite number of patterns of chord progressions, but there are also lots of
"standard" patterns which our ears are very used to hearing.
Some chords sound extra-good when placed in certain progressions, so it's useful to learn what
these progressions are.
We most often find "standard" progressions at the end of a phrase, or the end of a piece.
Progressions at the end of a phrase or piece are called "cadences". We already studied cadences at
grade 5, so pop back there to refresh your memory before continuing here.

Standard progressions also happen at non-cadence points in music. One very common pattern is
called the "progression of 5ths".

In this lesson you'll find an introduction to:

• Perfect, imperfect and plagal cadences
• The progression of fifths
• The passing six-four and the cadential six-four
• The V-VI progression

You'll also start to understand about voice leading - which means working out which voice (e.g. bass,
tenor, alto or soprano) should sing/play which note of the chord (no, it's not totally random!)

Cadences

Cadences which occur at the end of a piece of music are nearly always either V-I (called a "perfect
cadence") or IV-I (called a "plagal cadence"). Of these two, the perfect cadence is much more
common. In real life, you could see other progressions at the end of a piece. But in the Grade Six
Music Theory Exam, you will always be expected to end a piece with one of these two cadences.

(A piece ends with a double barline - sometimes you might get a question which ends with a single
barline - in that case it's not the actual end of the piece and so might not be a perfect or plagal
cadence.)

Cadences which occur at the end of a phrase often, but not always, end on chord V (always major,
even in a minor key). These are known as "imperfect" cadences.

In perfect cadences, the bass line falls by a Notice the voice leading - see how:
fifth (or rises by a fourth) and the chords are
in root position. So, the perfect cadence is • the bass root rises by a fourth or falls
Va - Ia. by a fifth
• the doubled root of V, (G in this
example), does not move - it becomes
the 5th of I
• the 3rd of V, (B in this
example), rises to the tonic of I
• the 5th of V, (D in this
example), rises to the 3rd of I

Plagal Cadences

In plagal cadences, the bass line falls by a Notice the voice leading - see how:
fourth (or rises by a fifth) and the chords are
usually in root position. The plagal cadence is • the bass root rises by a 5th, or falls by
IVa - Ia. a 4th
• the doubled root falls to the 3rd of I
• the 3rd of IV falls to the 5th of I
• the 5th of IV does not move and
becomes the doubled tonic of I

Imperfect Cadences

At the end of a questioning phrase (not at the As we’ll see, ii and II lead us to V in
end of a piece) we often hear an "imperfect the progression of 5ths.
cadence". This is any progression which ends
up on a dominant, chord V. The most
Look at some imperfect cadences:
common imperfect cadences are:

• all chord notes except the bass move
by the smallest possible step.
• if a note occurs in both chords (e.g. D
in the first example), keep it in the
same part (soprano here).
• other notes move by semitone, tone
or third. Don't use larger intervals

The Progression of Fifths

As you know, lots of music ends with a V-I (or i) cadence. This is because the notes in the V chord
have a very strong "pull" towards those in a I chord.
For example, in the key of C major the chords
V-I are G major - C major. The B in G major has
a strong pull towards the tonic C. The
semitone interval creates this strong pull.

Chord V is called the "dominant" for this reason - it's the most important chord after the tonic.

The 7th degree of the scale is called the "leading note" for the same reason - it feels like
it leads somewhere, and the note it leads to is the tonic. We say that the leading note resolves to the
tonic, because our ears feel satisfied when we hear the tonic played after the leading note.

So, chord I is most strongly related to chord V, its fifth.

In fact, every chord has a very strong connection with the chord which is a fifth higher. So, a chord of
G has a strong link with the chord of D. In C major, D is chord ii (minor, not major), but that's ok - the
link is still strong whether it's a major or a minor chord.

So far we have discovered that the following chords have a dominant-tonic relationship: I-V-ii

We can carry on in the same way, until we've used up all the triads of C major:

Look at this cadential 6-4 - pay particular attention to the bass line:

Tip! Always see if you can use a cadential 6-4 at the end of a piece in your grade six exam. They are
not always possible, but if they work, they are great!
To use a cadential 6-4 correctly, you must be careful that

• the tonic of the Ic chord resolves to the 3rd of the Va chord
• the 3rd of the Ic chord resolves to the 5th of the Va chord
• the 5th (bass note) of the Ic chord becomes the tonic of the Va chord, i.e. the bass line keeps
the same note in Ic-Va.

The Passing 6-4

The passing 6-4 is another progression where you are allowed to use a second inversion (6-4) chord.
Unlike the cadential 6-4 where the bass note stays the same, in a passing 6-4 the bass moves by step.
The second inversion chord falls on a weak beat of the bar.

Look at this passing 6-4 and notice that

• the bass line moves by step - C-D-E
• the second inversion chord (Vc) falls on a weak (middle) beat
• the other parts move by the smallest possible steps

Finally, we'll take a look at a progression which is very common in minor keys. The V-VI progression
is a little bit special, because you have to break one of the general rules of harmony in order to use
it!

The most important rule in harmony is that you don't write consecutive fifths or octaves. You
must never write consecutives.

The rule which this progression breaks is "never double a major third" in root position chords. You'll
learn more about the rules of harmony later, but if you want to check out this rule right now, read
the passage on doubling in the rules of harmony.

In the Va-VIa progression, if you want to avoid writing a consecutive fifth or octave, you have to
double a major third.

Here's an example - the key is A minor. Chord V is E major, so there is a fifth between
the E and B of the chord. Chord VI is F major,
with a fifth between F and C.

In Va-VIa, the bass E has to move to bass F, G# is the leading note, so it moves to A. The B would
logically move to a C, because it's a semitone step, but that would make a consecutive 5th with the
bass, so we move it to A instead. The soprano E again would normally move by semitone step to F,
but that would make a consecutive octave with the bass, so it has to move to C instead. These are
the only legal moves, and the end result is a chord of F with two As - which is a major third above the
root F.

Why is this just for minor keys? Because in major keys, chord vi is minor. In minor keys, chord VI is
major. It's ok to double a minor 3rd in a root position chord, but not a major one!

Don't worry if all this sounds a bit too confusing for now! The important thing to remember is that
there are some progressions which require special treatment. Keep that in the back of your mind,
and when you start doing harmonisations and find yourself getting stuck, come back to this page and
see if it makes a bit more sense!

There are several ways that we can make a harmonic line more interesting - liven it up a little - so
that it doesn't sound like a boring, simple progression of chords.
The different techniques we can use to do this are, as a group, called "melodic decoration", and can
be found in any of the harmonic lines.
Notes which form part of the melodic decoration are also known as "non-chord" notes, because they
are not part of the actual chord chosen for the harmony.

Look at these bars taken from a Bach Chorale BWV 2.6. The first score shows the "bare bones"
harmony - each chord is spelled out using the notes you would expect, with one chord per beat.

Bach added some melodic decoration to this harmonisation, making it a lot more interesting. Can
you spot the differences?

A passing note falls in between two different
chord notes. For example, the notes C and E
are both part of the C major chord, so they
are both chord notes. They are a third apart.
The D (marked *) falls between them, so it is
a passing note.
Passing notes can be harmonic or chromatic.

Harmonic passing notes are notes that naturally occur in the key of the piece, like in the previous
example. They usually happen when the two chord notes are a third (major or minor) apart.

Chromatic passing notes have an accidental
added because they don't occur naturally in
the key of the piece. For example, this passing
note is C# - it falls between the two chord
notes C and D. Chromatic passing notes
usually happen when the two chord notes are
a major second apart.

The passing notes above are unaccented, because they fall on a weak beat of the bar (between two
chords). Passing notes which fall on a strong beat are called accented passing notes. Compare the
following with the first example - this time the D is sounded on the strong beat - at the same time as
the second chord. This time it's an accented passing note.

There are two types of changing note.
The first type falls between two notes which are often a fourth apart:
between them. It's not a passing note,
because passing notes always move by step.
This kind of changing note is also called
the cambiata.
The cambiata moves down by step (from G-F),
then falls by a third in the same direction (F-
D). The next note (E) is then a step upwards
(D-E). This kind of decoration was more
common in Renaissance music (1400-1600).
Look at the soprano line. The notes G-D are a Try to learn it as down 2nd, down 3rd, up
fourth apart, and the changing note, F, falls 2nd.

The second type of changing note falls outside of the two chord notes:
Look at the soprano line. B and G are chord
notes. The C is the changing note. This kind of
changing note is also called the echappee.
The echappee moves by step in one
direction (B-C) and then by a leap in the
opposite direction (C-G), or vice-versa.
Try to learn it as step one way, leap the
other. This kind of decoration was more
common in Baroque music (1600-1750).

4. Anticipations

An anticipation happens when we write a chord note earlier than expected - in the beat before the
rest of the chord sounds. Here, the B is part of the G major chord. The G major chord is sounded on
the 2nd beat, but the B is sounded earlier, on the half beat before, so it is an anticipation.
Anticipations are approached by a downwards motion (e.g. the C falls to B).

The B is not part of the C major chord, even
though it is heard at the same time. For this
reason, it is a non-chord note.

Suspensions are the opposite of anticipations. A suspension happens when we write a chord
note later than expected - during the beat after the rest of the chord sounds. In this example, the B
doesn't sound immediately with the rest of the G major chord - instead, the C from the C major
chord is held on for a little longer, and then falls to the B half a beat after the G major chord has
sounded. The C is not part of the G major chord, so it is a non-chord note. The C is a suspension.

6. Retardations

Retardations are a type of suspension. In the
example of a suspension above, the C
resolved downwards to B. In a retardation,
the non-chord note resolves upwards.

Here the A resolves upwards to B.

7. Pedals

A pedal is when either the tonic or dominant note is played continuously, while the chords in the
other voices change. Pedals normally occur in the bass, (but it is possible to find them in any of the
other voices too). The pedal note is either held on for a long time, or repeated several times.

Let's look again at the Bach extract at the top of this page, and try to work out some of the melodic
decorations he used.

Note Type Reason
1. F natural Harmonic, F natural is part of the scale of G minor, so it's harmonic. It falls
unaccented on the second quaver, so it's unaccented. It falls between two
passing note. different chord notes, G and E flat*, so it's a passing note.
2. D As above. As above.
3. C Harmonic, This time the passing note falls on the first quaver of the pair -
accented on the strong beat, so it's an accented passing note.
passing note.
4. D Auxiliary note. The D is between the two C sharps, so it's an auxiliary note.
5. F Harmonic, F is part of the scale of G minor, so it's harmonic. It falls on the
unaccented second quaver, so it's unaccented. It falls between two
passing note. different chord notes, G and E*, so it's a passing note.

*Don't forget that the melodic minor version of the scale uses both E and E flat, and F natural and F
sharp, because the note series is different on the way down.

Now we have looked at the basics of chords and chord progressions, it's time to start looking at how
they are used in action - how to harmonise a melody.
This lesson teaches you how to answer Question 1(a) in the ABRSM grade six music theory exam
paper.

Your task, at grade six, is to indicate ONE chord at each of the places marked * to accompany the
melody.

In this question, you don't have to do a full harmonization - PHEW! You don't have to write out each
of the separate lines for alto, tenor and bass.

Instead, you have to suggest chords with inversions for each beat of a melody. (This is similar to the
grade five question on cadences; it's a bit harder because it's longer, and you also have to say
which inversion each chord is in.)

Write down your chords:

• as Roman numerals,
• with the small a, b or c to indicate the inversion

- that's all. (If you want, you can write all the actual chord notes on the staves, but we don't
recommend this method.)

Harmonising a melody with Roman numerals is an optional question in grade 6 theory. If you prefer,
you can create a bass line from a melody instead, using figured bass. We suggest you practise both
questions at first, and then focus on the one you find easier.
So let's get started!

• Work out the key of the piece. (If you see accidentals making a sharpened leading note, it
will be minor. If there are no accidentals, sing the melody through in your head and
determine which note is the tonic.)
• Write out and label all the triads for that key. This will help you avoid mistakes.
• If it's in a minor key, don't forget to sharpen the leading note in triads V and vii; and you can
safely ignore chord III - you don't need to use it in grade six.

Our question has three flats. It's C minor, because there is a B natural in there. Here are the triads
in C minor:

Step 2: Identify Possible Chords

• Use the table you wrote out at the beginning.
• For each note marked *, write down the three possible chords it can be included in. (We'll
choose the best chord later. For now, mark down all the possibilities.)
• We don't use chords with added 7ths at this stage in grade 6, so each chord is a basic triad.
• In a minor key, the mediant, dominant and leading notes will only have 2 possible chords,
not 3, because we avoid using chord III.
• Don't write any triads for non-chord notes.

Here are the triads we could use with each of the notes in this melody. For example, the first G
can be used with chords i, III or V. We don't use chord III at grade 6, so don't bother listing it!

You don't need to write any triads for the quaver D in bar 2 because it's a non-chord note.

Remember that we find standard cadences at the end of a phrase or a piece. Because of this, when
we harmonise a melody it's actually easier to start the end!

• Check the end of the piece - if there is a double barline, it's finished. It will end on chord I (or
i), and will be a perfect or plagal cadence.
• If there isn't a double barline, it will probably be an imperfect cadence (ending on chord V).

Our melody does have a double barline at the end, so we can be sure it finishes on chord i. Cross
out the other options for the last note.

• Now look at the last but one note. This note forms part of the cadence. Which cadence
should you use? Look at your options and choose the chord which forms part of a recognised
cadence - perfect, plagal or imperfect.

We can choose from triads V, ii or vii. Only chord V is possible, making a perfect cadence.
We now have the final two chords:

• Check the middle of the piece - very often there will also be a cadence about half way
through. You can spot a cadence because the music will pause momentarily and a longer
note will be used (on a strong beat).
• Look at your available chords, and choose the most likely cadence, using the same process
as before.

When you decide which inversions of each chord to use, you are in fact creating a bass line
The inversion of a chord tells you which note is in the bass - so each time you pick an inversion to
use, you are creating the next note of the bass line.
In the grade 6 exam, in question 1(a), you don't have to write out the bass line at all - does that
sound like a relief? Well in fact, it's not such a good thing! You still have to know what your bass line
looks like and how it functions harmonically, whether you write it out or not; and it's much easier to
spot mistakes when you are looking at actual notes rather than just Roman numerals.

We strongly recommend writing out the notes of your bass line in order to avoid serious errors.
(You can rub them out before you hand in your exam paper!)
Take a look at some of the rules you have to follow:

Rules

Your bass line must not break these basic rules of harmony:

• No consecutive fifths
• No consecutive octaves
• No exposed (or "hidden") fifths or octaves
• No leaps of a diminished or augmented interval
• Second inversion chords can only be used as part of a cadential 6-4 or a passing 6-4
• The range of the bass line should be

• The bass line must, of course, fit the notes of the chord you've chosen.

You can use either the root or the third of the chord in the bass. This means you can use root
position (a) or first inversion (b) chords.
Root position chords are stronger (more stable) than first inversions, so always use root
position chords at a cadence.
Try to use "contrary motion" in relation to the melody line. That means if the melody line goes up,
then the bass line goes down, and vice versa. Don't worry if you can't always manage contrary
motion, but you should always aim towards it!

It's important to realise that there isn't only one right answer when harmonising a melody. You can
choose whichever chords you like the sound of, as long as you don't break any rules. Bach himself
often harmonised the same melody in lots of different ways, just for fun!
You can only use the 5th of the chord in the bass (second inversion or "c" chord) in a cadential or
passing 6-4 - be careful! In the following instructions, we won't try to include second inversion
chords. Try them for yourself only when you feel confident to do so! There are some instructions at
the end of this lesson.

How to Choose Chords and Inversions or "Writing the Bass Line"

Here are the triads in order of how common they are, (e.g. I is the most commonly used chord, but
iii is quite rare), and then the triads which most frequently follow them (e.g. chord iii is almost
always followed by chord vi, but chord I can be followed by any chord at all).
Any chord can also be followed by the same chord, as long as it's in a different inversion. For
example, Ia is often followed by Ib.
Major Key Signatures

• Start with the first note. Choose a chord from the three you noted down, and pick the
inversion: root position or 1st inversion. Start by choosing the most common chord i.e. Ia, if
possible. (You can change it later if you need to).
• Lightly pencil in the bass note. (We say "lightly", because you'll probably end up doing a lot
of rubbing out!)

• For the next note, there are 4 or 6 possible chords (two or three chords x two inversions). Go
through each possibility and eliminate chords which break the rules and don't follow the
guidelines. (If all the chords break rules/guidelines you'll need to go back and choose a
different first chord).
• You need to check each possible chord against the previous one, looking for consecutives
and illegal intervals.
• From your "good" chords, choose the most likely chord. The primary triads are I, IV and V.
• Repeat for each note of the melody.
• If you find yourself "stuck" i.e. all the chords break rules, you'll need to go back one step and
choose a different chord. Double check that the new chord doesn't break any rules!
• It's ok to have a little bit of similar motion - but try to avoid it as much as possible!

Chord 2
Here are our 6 choices for the second chord:

ia - repeat of the first chord - not a great choice
ib - similar motion - not a great choice
iva - consecutive 5ths - not allowed
ivb - good choice
VIa - good choice
VIb - bassline doesn't change - not a great choice

ivb is a primary triad - so let's choose that one. (You could choose VIa if you prefer.)

Va - similar motion.
Vb - not allowed for two reasons: Ab to B in the bass is an augmented 2nd, and there would be a
doubled major third/leading note.
viia - not allowed because diminished chords are only normally used in the first inversion, and you
may not double the leading note.
viib - not allowed because the bass would move by an illegal augmented 4th.

Although Va gives us similar motion, it's the only chord which is allowed, so that's the one we'll
use.

ia - similar motion.
ib - low Eb is extremely low, and high Eb involves a big leap and similar motion. Not a great
choice.
iva/b - the progression V-iv is not recommended (see the table above)
VIa - similar motion
VIb - similar motion (note that the doubled major third is allowed in a V-VI progression)

We'll choose ia, because it's the most common chord.

Chord 5
iia - ii is diminished, so it should only be used in the first inversion.
iib - ok with a low F in the bass
Va - ok with a low G in the bass
Vb - ok
viia - not allowed in root position
viib - similar motion

We've got three potential chords - iib, Va and Vb. We are also just about to arrive at the cadence
we've already put in. So, we need to check our chords not only against chord 4, but also against
chord 6 (ia):

iib - ok but bass line seems to jump about a bit too much
Va - ok, but the bass line would be a repetitive G-C-G-C-G!
Vb - good - the bass line moves by step, the leading note B in the Vb chord will resolve on to the
tonic in ia.

Va - chord 13 is Va, so it's a repeat.
Vb - the bass cannot move by a diminished 4th here. (A diminished 4th is a dissonance; the note
which follows a dissonant interval must occur between the two dissonant notes. i.e. be a note
between Eb and B natural. A note B in chord 12 would have to rise to C in chord 13. The bassline
in chord 13 is G, which is outside the interval Eb-B.)
iia - not allowed - diminished chord
iib - bad choice because the bass would have a leap of a 7th
viia - not allowed - diminished chord
viib - not allowed - consecutive octaves

Houston, we have a problem! None of our chords are allowed!

This kind of stalemate scenario happens all the time when you try to harmonize a melody. I've
deliberately included it here, to help you figure out what to do next - read on!

What to do when you get stuck!

• When you get stuck, go back one chord and read through your choices again. Could you
have chosen a different chord? If not, go back another chord and keep going back until you
get to a point where you had a choice of good chords.
• Cross out the chord you chose first time round and make a note that it causes problems
further down the line. (It's a good idea to do this, in case you end up re-tracing your steps
yet again, and forget which chord you chose first time round!)
• Choose the next best chord, rub out everything you had written up to but not including the
cadence, and repeat the process as before.

Va - repeat of chord 12 (as before)
Vb - similar motion
iia - not allowed
iib - high F makes a leap of a 7th down to G, and low F is similar motion (and the second in a row,
which is even worse!)
viia - not allowed
viib - ok

Thank goodness! We only had to change one chord, and it meant we now have one good chord
and 2 not-so-good-but-ok chords to work with.
Choice: viib.

Note: when a piece is in a major key, it's completely possible to harmonise every note simply using
the major chords I, IV and V. However, you will create much more interest harmonically if you throw
in one or two minor chords - ii and vi most often.

Second inversions can be used in passing 6-4 and cadential 6-4 progressions.
Passing 6-4s are pretty tricky to get right, so basically we don't recommend trying to use them in this
question (1a of the grade six paper).
Cadential 6-4s, on the other hand, are pretty neat things to use if you can manage them. Look at the
chords you've picked, and see if the pattern I-V-I crops up at a cadence. If it does, then you can
safely write a cadential 6-4 using Ic-Va-Ia.

The Final Answer

Your final answer should have the Roman numeral letters with their inversions.
You are also allowed to write out the full chords instead of using the Roman numeral system, but I
advise against this. If you write out the full chords, you should make sure that every single
part conforms to all the rules of harmony. If you write the Roman numerals, the middle parts are left
blank and you don't need to worry about any rules for those parts.

Figured bass might look a bit mysterious if you've never seen it before. Even if you have heard of it,
you might think it's rather strange. Let's find out what figured bass is all about.
This is what it looks like - the figured bass is the little numbers written underneath the lower stave:

Figured bass is a shorthand method of composing. It was invented during the Baroque period (about
1600-1750). In those days, composers only wrote out a melody and a bass line (and not any of the
middle parts). The melody was played (or sung) by a soloist, and the bass line was usually played on
a keyboard instrument, such as the harpsichord or organ.

Obviously, the keyboard player needed to do a bit more than just play the bass line with his or her
left hand, but where was the rest of the music? Well, he or she had to improvise! The composer
added small numbers underneath the bass line, like a kind of code, which told the player which
chords to play. However, this code (which is the "figured bass") didn't tell the player exactly how to
play the chords - for example, they could choose to play them as solid chords, broken chords or
could weave them into heavily decorated individual voice lines.

In fact, keyboard players in those days were judged on their ability to create amazing improvisations
from a figured bass - and of course, the same piece of music would be played in totally different
ways by different musicians.
Don't worry though - in grade six theory you only need to write out the chords in their most basic
forms - you don't need to add anything fancy (except perhaps a passing note or two!)

In the modern world, you can find a similar kind of thing in sheet music for pop songs. Have you ever
seen a tune written out with chord markings for piano or guitar? The accompanist uses the
suggested chords, but plays them in whatever way they feel like. Figured bass is just the same,
except that there are a few rules you have to obey - the rules of harmony.

Figured bass is hardly ever used today except in music theory exams, or in early music groups. So
why is it tested? Well, it's been part of the study of music theory for hundreds of years and it's an
excellent way to test your knowledge of harmony. Although no one composes using figured bass any
more, it's still a useful way of referring to chords and chord progressions quickly. Figured bass is a
compulsory part of Grade Six Theory, and actually it's quite simple to get the hang of, you'll be
pleased to know! So let's get started!

Figured bass is written underneath the bass line. (Sometimes a bass line with figures is called a
"continuo".) The numbers in figured bass tell you what chord to build up from the bass note, and in
which inversion.
The single most important thing to remember about figured bass is that the bass line shows you
the lowest note, and that you must build a chord upwards from that note. Never, ever write a chord
note which is lower than the bass note.
Each number tells you the interval above the bass note which you need to write, in order to create a
chord. We will write all our chords as 4-note chords, creating 4 independent voices – soprano, alto,
tenor and bass.
(Note, although figured bass is really all about playing and improvising, rather than writing, we will
talk about writing here because we are training you for an exam, after all!)
In Grade 6, there are three figures which you need to know; we call them “5-3”, “6-3” and “6-4”.

5-3

5-3 means root position. From the bass note, write the note a third higher, and then the note a fifth
higher.

Remember that the exact position of the notes of the chord are up to the performer. Only the bass
note is fixed. But, it doesn't matter at all what order we write the notes of the chord, or in
which octave. For example, we could write either of these two chords:

We have written a four-note chord, so one of the notes is doubled. In both these examples, we have
doubled the B (there are two Bs in each chord). B is the root of the chord, (the “root” is the lowest
note of the triad). In a 5-3 chord, the root is the most common note to double, but you are also

A 6-3 chord is a first inversion chord. The notes we need to write are a third and a sixth above the
bass note.

Here the bass note is C. The figured bass tells us to add the notes E (a third above C) and A (a sixth
above C). Our chord notes are C-E-A, which is A minor in the first inversion.
Some examples of 6-3 chords:

In a 6-3 chord, you are allowed to double any of the chord notes to make a 4-note chord, unless it is
a diminished chord. Double the bass note in a diminished chord. (A diminished chord is built from
two minor thirds, e.g. B-D-F).

We can talk about the chord notes as if they are triads, (e.g. A-C-E), or as they are written on
the stave (C-E-A). A triad has a root, 3rdand 5th. The notes on the stave are the bass note, the 6 and
the 3. In the first example, the “root” or “6” (A) is doubled). In the second example, the “3rd” or
“bass note” (C) is doubled. You could also double the “5th” or “3” (E).

Because 6-3 chords are also very common, sometimes they are just written as 6 instead of 6-3. The
figure 6 means first inversion.

A 6-4 chord is a second inversion chord. The notes we need to write are a fourth and a sixth higher
than the bass note.

Here the bass note is C. The figured bass tells us to add F (a fourth above C) and A (a sixth above C).
The chord notes are C-F-A, which is F major in second inversion.

In a 6-4 chord you should always double the bass note (5th) of the chord.
The rules of doubling are very important and need to be learned. More information can be found
in Rule 3a – Doubling.

Chromatic Alteration

You can add sharps and flats to figured bass. The accidental is written next to the number which it
affects.
If the accidental is not next to a number, but just appears on its own, then it refers to the 3rd of the
chord.
For example:

Chromatic alteration is very common in minor keys, where the dominant chord has a sharpened
third which does not appear in the key signature. For example in A minor, the dominant chord is E
major, with a G sharp accidental.

Lines

Horizontal lines in figured bass mean that the same harmony applies to two or more notes. It means
"don't change the chord!"

First Realization of Figured Bass

Here’s one bar of figured bass which uses everything we’ve learned so far. We’ll go through it step
by step. Each note is numbered (1-5), so you can easily see what we’re talking about. Look at each
note and try to work out which three other chord notes you would need to write down. (Don’t worry
about their exact positions on the stave for now!) Check your answers on the next page.

When we use the chords Ic-Va-Ia, and notate them in figured bass, they are written as 6-4, 5-3, 5-3.
This is also known as the "6-4 - 5-3 progression" or cadential 6-4. This is one of the very few chord
progressions where you are allowed to use a second inversion chord. The second inversion chord
normally falls on a strong beat.
Cadential 6-4s work really well at the end of a piece, because there is a very strong emphasis on the
dominant note in the bass for two chords (Ic and Va) instead of just one (e.g. V7). When the final Ia
chord is finally reached, our ears and brains feel very satisfied, because we've had to wait just a tiny
bit longer to hear the tonic.
Let's add a couple of chords to the previous example, to finish off with a cadential 6-4:

Notice how the chord notes move: in the 6-4 chord, the B falls to A# in the 5-3 chord (tenor line).
The D in the 6-4 chord moves to C# in the 5-3 chord (soprano line). In a cadential 6-4, the
6 ALWAYS moves to 5, and the 4 ALWAYS moves to 3.
You can easily spot a cadential 6-4, because the bass note is the same for both chords (F# in this
case), and the second chord is always notated "5-3" instead of being left blank.

If you see a 6-4 chord notated, but the bass note of the following chord is different, it will be
a passing 6-4. The bass will move by step. The second inversion chord falls on a weak beat.
The rules for voice-leading in a passing 6-4 just follow the normal rules of harmony. There are many
variants.
You can spot a passing 6-4 because the chord following the 6-4 will not be notated "5-3", but will be
left blank if it's a root position chord. (It could also be a first inversion chord, notated in the normal
way with "6").

So Many Rules!
Before we begin to make our own realizations, there are a few things we need to learn about first.
There are quite a lot of rules when it comes to figured bass, but don’t panic! First you need to read
about the rules and guidelines, then you need to do lots of practice exercises, and be prepared to
make lots of mistakes!
With each practice exercise you do, you will get better at remembering all the rules. It also helps to
understand why the rules exist. You must get into the habit of triple-checking your work too,
because in figured bass, mistakes hide everywhere!
To get started with figured bass, you need to know the rules about:

Go to the chapter on “Rules of Harmony” to read about each rule in detail. Here is a summary:

1. No consecutive 5ths or octaves, and also check for “hidden” consecutives.
2. The soprano line should have a nice melody. The alto and tenor lines just fill out the
harmony. No wide leaps, augmented or diminished intervals. Use as little movement as
possible most of the time.
3. Always check you have doubled the right note – usually the root or fifth.
4. Don’t let parts overlap, and make sure they stay in the right range of notes.

How to Do It

These are the steps you need to follow. More details are given below.

1. Work out the key of the piece.
2. Write down the chords you need by name.
3. Write the whole soprano line.
4. Fill in the alto and tenor parts, chord by chord.
5. Check for errors and rewrite where necessary.
6. Repeat step 5.
7. Add melodic decoration

We must stress how important it is to CHECK CHECK CHECK everything you write in figured bass!

The key signature is two flats – is it Bb major or G minor?
The sharps and naturals in the figured bass tell us that it’s most likely to be G minor. Try to sing the
bass line slowly in your head.

Step 2 – CHORDS
Look at the first note in the bass line and the figure underneath it.

It’s a Bb, and it has a “6”. Remember that “6” really means “6-3” – we need to add the notes which
are a third and a sixth higher than the bass note.
Starting on the bass note, count the lines and spaces until you get to 3: Bb – C – D. So, D is the third
note up.
Starting on the bass note again, count the lines and spaces until you get to 6: Bb – C – D – Eb –F – G.
So, G is the sixth note up.
Put the notes together: Bb – D – G and work out the name of the triad. This is the triad of G minor.

Underneath the stave, make a note of three things:

• the chord name (G minor)
• the chord notes (G – Bb – D) and
• the chord number & position in Roman numerals (ib)

(As you get better at doing figured bass you’ll find that you don’t need to write out all this
information. But in the beginning it’s a really good idea to do it this way, because it helps you to
understand & learn the rules of harmony, and it helps avoid mistakes.
You will begin to see that there are common patterns of chords, for example, and you are less likely
to write in the wrong chord notes accidentally.)
Write in ALL the chord information in this way. Check your answers in the table:
Gm D Gm Gm D Gm Cm Gm Gm D G
G Bb D D F# A G Bb D G Bb D D F# A G Bb D C Eb G G Bb D G Bb D D F# A GBD
ib Vc ib ic Va ia ivb ib ic Va Ia

• has an interesting melody without too much repetition of notes
• moves in contrary motion to the bass line

The soprano line can take any of the chord notes in your list, and you can safely double any of the
bass notes EXCEPT in chord Vb – (we haven’t got any Vb chords in this exercise, so that’s not a
problem!)
So, for our first chord, shall we choose a G, Bb or D?
Look back at the chord notes you listed in step 2 – in the first six chords you will need a D – so the
note D will probably be better in the alto or tenor parts, because those parts should move very little,
whereas the soprano part needs to move mostly by step so that your listeners don’t die of boredom!
Don’t choose a note which will get you stuck in a rut! So let’s go for a G. High or low? Well if we want
our soprano part to move in contrary motion to the bass, we’d better not start too high, or we will
quickly run out of singable notes. So we’ll choose the lower G (the bass is low at the start, so we
have plenty of room to fill in the alto and tenor parts).

(Often, the note you choose first will not be the best one and you’ll have to go back and change it
later, but we need to start somewhere and this is the best place to try!)
We write the soprano note in as a crotchet, because we can see that the chords change on each
crotchet beat. We write the stems upwards, because we will write the alto line on the same stave,
underneath the soprano line, with stems downwards.
To choose the next note, we need to remember some guidelines and rules:

• No consecutive 5ths or octaves (including hidden consecutives)
• No huge leaps or illegal intervals
• Move in small steps where possible
• Contrary motion is best (but not compulsory)

The notes we can choose from are D, F# and A. We want to use contrary motion, so the melody line
needs to move upwards or stay the same, because the bass moves downwards.

Next, we need to choose from G, Bb and D. What do you think is the best choice, and why?
D isn’t great, because it makes a big leap
G is ok but a little boring
Bb is good because it uses contrary motion and is also a semitone step from the A. Always
use a semitone step if there is one!

Continue in the same way, until you’ve finished the soprano line. Remember there is always more
than one possible answer when realizing a figured bass. Read through our decisions for each note to
see what influenced our choices, but don’t worry if you think you would write something different.
Just make sure you haven’t broken any rules! Each note is numbered so you can see why we chose
it, and the reason why the other notes were not chosen is in brackets.

Now we have a soprano line that doesn’t break any rules, we can attempt to fill in the alto and bass
parts. It’s important to remember to be flexible – usually we find that we have to change something
in the soprano line to avoid breaking rules in the alto and tenor parts.
In the above list of reasons for not choosing a note, you should realize that:
It’s ok SOMETIMES to

Step 4 – ALTO & TENOR
Now we need to fill in the inner parts. The number one rule to remember here is that there should
be as little movement as possible – if you can keep the same note in the same part then do!
Complete each chord one by one, and then check it carefully to make sure that you haven’t written
any consecutive 5ths or octaves, and that you’ve doubled an allowed note. Re-read the rules
of doubling now, if you need to.
Let’s start this one together too. For each chord, refer to your chart from step 2, and work out which
other notes we must (or can) add into the chord.
You should make sure the tenor, alto and soprano parts are not too far apart from each other – an
interval over an octave is too big. Between the tenor and bass parts big intervals are absolutely fine.

Steps 5 & 6 – CHECK!
Step 5 is possibly the most important step of them all! It really is easy to make mistakes in figured
bass because you need to concentrate on so many things at once.
These are the checks you need to do every time. When you come across a mistake and then fix it,
you need to start your checks right at the beginning again, because fixing one problem often causes
problems somewhere else! (Sorry!)
While you’re practising, include playing through as part of your checks. Play it on a keyboard and
play it slowly. This helps your brain to associate the chord sounds with the symbols your eyes can
see.
If, horror of horrors, you find that every time you fix one mistake another one appears, you probably
have a faulty soprano line. If it’s really bad, it’s usually better to rub it all out, go and have a coffee
and then start again!

1. Chord Notes. Check that every chord contains the right chord notes and that the note you
have doubled is allowed.
Read each chord slowly and place a tick under it after it’s checked.

2. Consecutives. Check each possible pairing of parts for consecutive octaves and fifths.
Write out the following: S-A, S-T, S-B, A-T, A-B, T-B. Then follow each pair of parts, one at a
time, watching the intervals carefully. If the parts move in oblique or contrary motion, you’re
safe. If they move in similar motion check for consecutives. Tick off each pair of parts as it’s
completed.

3. Hidden Consecutives.
Recheck the bass and soprano lines together. If the two parts make a 5th or an octave, make
sure that it is approached by contrary motion, OR that the soprano part moves by step. If
neither of those two things are true, you need to re-write.
Look along the soprano and bass lines. If you find a 5th or an octave, check the conditions
apply.

4. Voice Leading.
Leading notes should resolve to the tonic, no illegal intervals, mostly stepwise movements.
Read each part separately. If you see large intervals or anything suspect, double check that
it’s allowed.

5. Cadences.
Cadential 6-4s must move in the proper way, 6 moves to 5, and 4 moves to 3.
Look at the figures. If you see 6-4 followed by 5-3, it’s a cadential 6-4. (If there is a 6-3
without the 5-3 after it, it’s a passing 6-4 and more flexible).

6. Overlap.
Make sure none of the parts overlap.
Check particularly between the alto and tenor parts as this is where errors creep in.

Step 7 – Add Melodic Decoration
If you want to get full marks for this question in the grade six music theory exam, you need to make
sure that your soprano line is musically interesting. This means that it is tuneful as well as having
some rhythmic variety. If you obeyed all the rules above, you will have avoided repeated notes and
usually have chosen notes which are a scale step or a third apart - so far so good. The next (and
final!) task is to add a little bit of melodic decoration. You can easily add passing notes and auxiliary
notes, and even changing notes - here's how:

For two melody notes which are the same, (you will have avoided this of course, but sometimes it's
the only solution!), halve the first note and add a note a 2nd above or below as an auxiliary note.

For two melody notes which are a major/minor second apart, add a note which is a step in the
opposite direction, to create a changing note. For example, here the melody falls from C to Bb, so we
can add a D (rising from C) to make a changing note.

Be discerning! Don't add too much melodic decoration. A little goes a long way! You can also add
melodic decoration to the alto and tenor parts, but don't alter the bass line at all.

These rules of harmony need to be learnt. You need to use them when you are harmonizing a
melody, creating a bass line with figured bass, or realizing a figured bass.

The Rules

1a. NO consecutive 5ths
1b. NO consecutive octaves
1c. NO hidden (or “exposed”) consecutives
2a. NO dissonant leaps (seventh, augmented or diminished intervals), choose small intervals.
Leading note resolves to the tonic.
2b. The soprano line should have an interesting melody.
2c. The alto and tenor lines should not move about much at all.
3a. Double the root or fifth in root position chords. Double any note in first inversion chords.
Double the fifth in second inversion chords. Double the third in diminished chords. Double
the third with care in other chords.
3b. Never leave out a figured note. Never leave out the root or third.
4a. Never overlap parts.
4b. Stay in the accepted voice ranges and don’t put more than an octave between the upper
voices.

1a. Consecutive 5ths
Consecutives are the no.1 bad guy in figured bass! You must NEVER write consecutives.
Consecutive 5ths often sneak in when there are two root position (5-3) chords next to each other.
Here are two root position chords – C major and A minor:

In the first chord, the tenor and bass parts are a perfect 5th apart. In the second chord, they are also
a perfect fifth apart.
When there are perfect 5ths in the same two parts one after the other, we call them “consecutive
5ths”.

Now the perfect 5th in the second chord is between the alto and tenor parts – the 5ths are no longer
consecutive, because they are indifferent parts.
You have to check for consecutive 5ths between each voice of the harmony. This means six checks
between each chord:

Sometimes the consecutives are more difficult to see: here are consecutive 5ths between the alto
and bass parts:

Common questions about Consecutive 5ths.
• Are compound 5ths (i.e. an octave and a 5th) wrong? YES, they are also illegal.
• Are diminished 5ths wrong? No, but you should still avoid writing them if possible.
• Does it count if the same notes are repeated? No, consecutives are only bad when the voices
move:

Consecutive 5ths and octaves are considered to be bad because it sounds as though the music has
been reduced to only three parts. Each of the four voice parts should have a strong, independent
identity, and this effect is dramatically lessened by consecutives.

1c. Hidden Consecutives
Also known as “concealed” or “exposed” consecutives, these are a little harder to spot, but must be
avoided.
Hidden consecutives happen when:

• The bass and soprano parts form a perfect 5th or octave AND
• The 5th/8ve is approached by similar motion AND
• The soprano part is approached by a leap (not by step).

2b. Voice Leading - Soprano
In the soprano part, you should try to write a reasonably tuneful melody, but you should avoid leaps
of more than a perfect 5th. Follow these guidelines:
The best intervals to use are 2nds and 3rds.
4ths and 5ths are OK, but should only be used in an emergency.
Repeated notes can be used, but the more you use the more boring your melody will be, so only use
them if you are stuck.
Here is the beginning of a soprano line written by J.S. Bach:

Which intervals has Bach used here, and how many times?
Unison (2)
Second (7)
Third (1)
Fourth (1)
Fifth (1)
Sixth (1)
Seventh (0)
Augmented/diminished (0)
As you can see, a good soprano line is made up mostly of intervals of a 2nd.

In the alto and tenor parts, the most common interval to use is the unison (the same note!)
Sometimes you don’t have much choice about which note to write next. Here are some cases:
Leading notes ALWAYS resolve onto the tonic when possible.
In a cadential 6-4, the 4 resolves to 3 and the 6 resolves to 5.
Always choose a semitone step if one is available.

2c. Voice Leading -Bass
The bass line should be reasonably melodic, without too much repetition of adjacent notes.
The bass usually moves either by step, or by leaps of perfect 4ths and 5ths, or by leaps of 3rds.
Octave leaps may be used in moderation.
The bass should not leap by a 7th, an augmented or a diminished interval.
The final note in the bass line of a piece must always be the tonic.

• In any 5-3 chord
• In any 6-3 chord EXCEPT diminished chords (ii° or vii°)
• Never in 6-4 chords

Double the Third:

• In any 6-3 chord EXCEPT if it is the leading note (which means chord Vb)
• Never in 6-4 chords
• Never in a 5-3 chord UNLESS:
o it is a minor third and it’s your only choice
o it is a major third AND the piece is in a minor key, AND it’s part of a V-VI progression.

Here’s a Rule of Thumb which is easy to remember:
• Root position – 1 or 5
• First Inversion – anything goes
• Second inversion – 5

Watch out for:

• diminished chords (ii° and vii°) – ONLY double the third
• chord VI in minor keys CAN double the third
• Vb – CAN’T double the third

3b. Omission
Sometimes it’s ok to leave out the fifth of the triad.
Never leave out a note that is figured. So, if you see “5-3”, you must include the third and the fifth.
But if the chord is blank, it means you can leave out the fifth.
If you see “6-3”, you must include the fifth (it’s the “3” of the 6-3), but if you see just “6”, then you
can leave out the fifth.
You can never leave out the fifth of a 6-4 chord.
Never leave out the third or the root.

In the first example, the alto part C is lower than the tenor E.
In the second example, the tenor C is higher than the alto B in the next chord.
It’s ok to let the bass and tenor parts share a note from time to time.

4b. Range
When you write for four voices (soprano, alto, tenor and bass), you should keep to the normal range
that those voices can sing:

These ranges are not absolutely fixed, but stay within them to stay safe!

Never have an interval wider than an octave between the tenor and alto, or alto and soprano parts.
It’s ok to have more than an octave between the tenor and bass parts.

In the Grade Six music theory exam, composition is a compulsory question. It’s worth 20% of the whole
exam. You will have a choice of question. Both options will ask you to continue a given opening, and will
be for instrument rather than voice.

One option will invite you to continue a “real life” opening (usually by a well-known composer from the
Classical or Romantic eras) and the other will be an opening which has been specially written for the
exam.

The “real life” opening usually needs to contain a specific key change. The melody should end in the new
key. This is because the melody you write is really just the beginning of a bigger piece (which will never
get written, however!) Although the name of the composer and work are given, you are not supposed to
know how the piece goes and write the same notes as in the original! Even if you do know the opening,
you need to write something new. The melody should be 8-10 (complete) bars in length.

For the “invented” opening, you are usually advised that a key change is optional. You may get a higher
score if you write a good key change, so it’s worth learning how to do it. In this question, the melody is
complete in itself. This means that it shouldn’t end in the new key – it must end in the same key that it
started in. The melody should be at least 8 bars long.

What the Examiners are Looking For

Never forget that this is a music theory exam, not a composition exam! Although you are writing a com-
position, you will be judged on your skill in applying the rules of accepted techniques, rather than dis-
playing amazing creativity. Your composition should fit in with the norms which apply to music written
from the 17th to 19th centuries.

The things the examiner will be looking for are the basis of this composition course. In a nutshell, they
are:

• Innovation (e.g. something new in every bar, new ways of getting sounds from an instrument,
non-diatonic key systems)
• Proof that you know every ornament, tuplet, scale, broken chord, foreign term and symbol etc.
that exists.

There are a few different ways to refer to chords. In this course we use the extended Roman numeral
system.

• The Roman numerals I, II, III, IV, V, VI and VII refer to the triads built on each note of a scale.
• Lower case numerals (e.g. i, ii, vi) mean the chord is minor. Upper case (e.g. I, IV, V) mean the
chord is major.
• A diminished chord is written in lower case with the symbol ° (e.g. vii°).
• An augmented chord is written in upper case with the symbol + (e.g. III+).

You wouldn’t try to build a house from scratch without first looking at a lot of different types of building,
and without reading up on the techniques of house construction. Similarly, it’s a good idea to begin
learning about composition by examining other people’s work and studying the techniques they used. If
you compose without thinking about technique, you’re unlikely to score a high mark in your Grade Six
music theory exam!

We’ll start by looking at the overall structure of a piece of music. The ABRSM book “Music Theory in
Practice Grade Six”1 tells us that “music, unlike noise, is the result of planned use of sounds, ordered and
controlled to make a logical progression”. This is really crucial – an unplanned composition will generally
sound random and pointless and sometimes downright irritating!

We can compare music to language in many ways. If we think about language, the smallest units we
have at our disposal are the individual letters of the alphabet. We can arrange and group the letters to
make words. We can’t just stick any old letters together if we want our words to be meaningful! We
arrange words into sentences, and sentences into paragraphs. We could write out the possible progres-
sion like this:

In music, we start with a note. We combine small numbers of notes together to make a motif. We might
combine motifs in a couple of sections, which together make up a phrase. A couple of phrases will make
a sentence and a bunch of sentences will make up a section (of a different type!) A handful of sections
could comprise a movement, and three or four movements can make up a piece.

In the same way that in language the structure has some flexibility (not all books have chapters, for ex-
ample), musical forms also vary a lot. Some parts are indispensable however – there are no words with-
out letters, and there are no motifs without notes.

• a melody which forms a complete piece, or
• one which is a section of a larger piece.

The composition techniques are more or less the same though, whichever option you choose. You will
need to pay close attention to the wording of the question.

“Complete piece” means that

• your composition ends at the last bar you write, and
• has to end on the tonic of the original key.

“Complete melody” means that

• we can assume the piece will continue with more music after what you’ve written, and
• it usually ends in key related to the original, for example the dominant.

Structure

A typical eight-bar melody is divided up into two phrases, each of four bars. The first phrase is the ante-
cedent and the answering phrase is the consequent. Each phrase might be further subdivided into two
two-bar sections.

Each section normally contains connected motifs or melodic sequences of notes. The similarity of these
“musical words”, and the harmony underlying them, is what gives the melody a feeling of coherence – it
is not just a random series of notes.

It’s important to remember that a phrase does not have to start on the first beat of the bar. But each
phrase will contain the same number of strong beats.

Examples

Here are some examples of eight-bar melodies. (It will be helpful for you if you can play them through as
well as read them on the page.) Each eight-bar melody is made up of two complementary phrases. No-
tice how, in each case, the melody is developed from the material in the first two bars by means of sim-
ple changes.

• The antecedent phrase is from bars 1-4, and the consequent phrase is from bars 5-8.
• Each phrase is sub-divided into two sections (bars 1-2, 3-4, 5-6 and 7-8).
• The first section in both phrases begins with a dotted quaver trill followed by two sextuplet
groups.
• The first section of the second phrase begins an octave lower than that of the first phrase, but is
identical in every other way.
• The second section in each phrase contains some rhythmic material which is the same (the dem-
isemiquaver rhythm) and some which is different.
• In bar 3, the harmony on the first beat of the bar is IV-I. In contrast, in bar 7 the chord is ii.
• Both phrases end with perfect cadences.
• The semiquaver figure in bar 8 belongs, in fact, to the next phrase. These are simply decorative
linking notes.

Our second example is from a piece called “Rigaudon” by Handel.

• The first section of the antecedent and consequent phrases is identical, except for the dynamics.
• The second section of the first phrase contains a quaver sequence, whereas the second section
of the second phrase re-uses the quaver-quaver-crotchet rhythm from the first section.
• The first phrase ends with an imperfect cadence I-V.
• The second phrase ends with a modulation to the dominant – D major. This is a perfect cadence.

• The first section of each phrase has the same rhythm, but the final minim is different, which
means the harmony will also be different.
• The first section of the first phrase ends on the dominant of B minor (F# major). The first section
of the second phrase ends on the dominant of D major (A major), which is the relative major key.
• Bar 7 re-uses the rhythm of bar 4, with a different melodic shape.
• The final three quavers are decorative linking notes which belong to the next phrase.
• The modulation to the relative major key is helped by the A natural in bar 6. The harmonic B mi-
nor scale uses A#, but A natural is in D major.

A motif is a short, memorable unit of music. A phrase can be made up of motifs which could be as short
as just one or two beats’ worth of music. Typically, motifs are re-used throughout a piece to give a sense
of continuity to the music. Although not all pieces of music contain motifs, many do, and they are a use-
ful weapon to have in your arsenal of compositional techniques! Probably the most famous motif in clas-
sical music is the four-note sequence from Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony:

The motif is repeated many times throughout the first movement. Sometimes the pitch is altered, some-
times it is sped up, but it keeps its character. The character of a motif is usually defined by its rhythm.

When you develop the opening material given in the Grade Six music theory exam, you will need to de-
cide which element is interesting enough or promising enough to work as a motif. You then need to
make sure the motif reappears in the rest of the piece enough times for it to become a “characteristic”
of your composition.

Examples

Here are some examples of motifs in action. Play them through and notice how the motifs are altered in
simple ways in order to give a feeling of continuity with variety.

Our first example comes from the Waltz in A flat by Brahms, Op.39 no.15. The motif is a dotted crotchet
followed by three quavers, with the following “rough” melodic shape:

All the notes are taken from the chords which make up the underlying harmony. The melodic shape of
the motif is pretty constant too – the first two quavers are lower in pitch than the crotchet, and are re-
peated, and the final quaver is the same pitch as the crotchet (or close enough).

Here are the first eight bars. (Try to listen to the whole piece – you will notice the motif occurs through-
out.) The motif occurs 5 times here, and then a final time in the 8th bar as a linking sequence into the
next phrase. (Note – you only need to write a single line of melody for the Grade Six music theory exam.)

A melodic sequence is a series of notes which is repeated but with a different starting note. The basic
intervals between consecutive notes are kept the same. Usually all the notes are taken from the scale
which forms the key of the piece, and therefore they aren’t “chromatically altered” in any way – which
means we don’t see any extra sharps or flats added (unless they are part of the minor scale, which will
sometimes have a sharpened 6th and 7th degree of the scale). Sometimes however, chromatic alteration
does take place. We’ll take a look at both types of sequence.

Here’s a simple melodic fragment of five notes:

The melodic interval between notes 1 and 2 is a second. Actually it’s a major second, but we don’t need
to worry about that too much right now. We can write out all the intervals between consecutive notes:
1-2=2nd ; 2-3=3rd ; 3-4=2nd ; 4-5=3rd . Next we will change the starting note – let’s pick G.

This is a “diatonic” melodic sequence. This means that the notes are chosen to fit in with the scale, ra-
ther than to be an exact match of intervals. Why so? When we examine the “quality” (e.g. ma-
jor/minor…) of the intervals, we’ll see that they are different.

Notes 1-2 Notes 2-3 Notes 3-4 Notes 4-5

Starting on F Major 2nd Minor 3rd Minor 2nd Major 3rd

Starting on G Major 2nd Minor 3rd Major 2nd Minor 3rd

The interval quality has changed from notes 3-5. This gives the sequence a slightly different character to
the original, but of course in many respects it is the same. This simple modification makes a new frag-
ment of music which has both continuity with and variety from the original material.

What happens if we try to match up the intervals exactly? We get a “chromatic” sequence instead of a
“diatonic” one. We need to add in some accidentals in order to preserve the interval “quality”, and these
accidentals will usually have the effect of making the music change key. This is also known as “modula-
tion”. Here’s what happens when we match the intervals exactly:

The only change we needed to make was to sharpen the Bb up to a B natural. But because B natural
doesn’t occur in the scale of F major, we sense that the music is changing key. We feel as though G is the
new tonic, and that therefore the music has modulated to G major.

Play these two 4-bar extracts, and notice how the first seems to stay firmly rooted in F major, but the
second appears to modulate to G major:

We will finish this unit with an example of a diatonic and a chromatic sequence. Whenever you are play-
ing any music at all, however, you should take a moment to stop and look carefully at what has been
written, and see if you can spot any sequences in action. See if you can work out whether they are dia-
tonic or not, and if they are chromatic, what key do they lead to?

Our first example is from the opening of Mozart’s Piano Sonata no.14 K457 in C minor. It is a diatonic
sequence, played first from the tonic and then from the dominant note (G in C minor). Other minor
changes (marked by arrows in the extract) take place along the way. (Notice that the B naturals are part
of the C minor scale, because the leading note is sharpened - it's not a chromatic alteration).

Chromatic sequences are a lot less common than diatonic ones. However, you probably know this fa-
mous example, from the song “Do – Re – Mi” from the musical “The Sound of Music”.

The sequence consists of a 2-bar phrase.

It starts with the first six notes of the C major scale, ending with a major 2nd.

The next two bars form an exact chromatic sequence – the starting note is one tone higher and the six
notes are from the scale of D major, with the F sharpened with an accidental.

The third instance of the sequence is almost the same (up a tone, E major scale for the first five notes),
but it ends with a minor 2nd interval, so technically this one is a diatonic sequence.

• The perfect cadence Va-Ia signifies a close. It’s usually found at the end of a piece or main sec-
tion.
• The plagal cadence IVa-Ia also has a final effect, but is softer and less dramatic.
• An imperfect cadence, e.g. ii-V or vi-V, is often found at the end of an antecedent phrase, or at
the end of a middle section of the music. (Any cadence which ends on V is an imperfect ca-
dence.)
• An interrupted cadence, e.g. V-vi, is quite a rare type of cadence. Interrupted cadences are
named so, because instead of following chord V with chord I as is usually expected, V is followed
by vi (in a major key) or VI (in a minor key). Other variations are possible, but chord vi/VI is the
most common.
• An inverted cadence, e.g. Vb-Ia, can also occasionally be found at the end of the antecedent
phrase or the end of a middle section. An inverted cadence is one where a chord is in first inver-
sion instead of in root position.

Why Do Cadences Matter in the Grade Six Composition Question?

Although you are going to compose an unharmonised piece in the Grade Six music theory exam, it’s vital
to realise that there should still be an implied harmonic structure to the melody. This means that the
notes you choose for the melody at the half-way point and at the end have to fit with the chords which
would make up the cadences. If you choose notes which lie outside these chords, your cadences will not
sound clear and you will lose points on structure.

Remember that “notes which fit” can include
passing notes and other non-chord notes – you
don’t have to stick to the notes from the triad,
but the triad-notes should be prominent. For
example, if the implied chord is C major, you
could write this, because the D and the F would
be passing notes, leaving C-E-G as the triad.

the implied chord would probably be D minor, although most of the actual notes are the same as in the
first example. Why is this?

Notes which fall on strong beats have prominence. In the second example, the F falls on the strong beat
but is not part of a C major chord. (In duple and triple time, the strong beat is the first beat of the bar. In
quadruple time there is a secondary strong beat half way through the bar.)

Notes which fall on the beat have prominence. In the first example this is C-E-G. In the second it is F-G-D.

Notes which are approached by a leap have prominence. In the second example, the D is approached by
a larger interval than the other notes, but is not part of a C major chord.

Notes which are repeated have prominence. The repetition of the F in the second example makes it
stand out.

Your composition will most likely contain two cadences; an imperfect, inverted or interrupted cadence at
the half-way point, and a perfect cadence at the end.

If you choose the question in the Grade Six music theory exam which asks for a modulation at the end of
the melody, your perfect cadence will be in the new key.

Examples

The following simple melodies illustrate how the notes chosen for the melody reflect the implied har-
mony.

• These twelve bars lead up to the end of the first section.
• The piece is in Bb major, and the first six bars of this extract are in Bb major, but the introduction
of the E natural in bar 7 signifies that the music is modulating to F major – the dominant key.
• At the end of bar 5, the note A is a part of chord V in Bb major (F major), and the Bb in bar 6 is
part of chord I.
• In bar 11, the G is a very prominent note because it falls on the strong beat and it is sounded
three times. It is the dominant note of the dominant chord in F major (C major), and the section
ends on a tonic F major chord in the new key.
• Both cadences are perfect.

Our next excerpt is from an Andante Grazioso in Bb by Haydn. (We have simplified it a little, to show just
the melody.)

Our final example is from a well-known Christmas carol, “It Came Upon a Midnight Clear”, set by Arthur
Sullivan.

• There is no modulation from F major.
• The antecedent phrase ends with a chord IV followed by either a I or a V. This means it could be
either a plagal or an imperfect cadence.
• The final cadence is perfect.

A sophisticated technique, which involves a padding out of the second phrase, is called interpolation.
Instead of having two 2-bar sections in each phrase, the second phrase could contain three 2-bar sec-
tions, for example, resulting in a consequent which is six bars long:

There are no hard and fast rules about interpolation sections – they can be different lengths and they
are definitely not a compulsory part of the Grade Six music theory exam. However, you may get more
points if you can use interpolation effectively!

The instructions in the theory exam paper usually ask you to write a piece which is 8-10 bars in length, or
at least eight bars long. A ten bar piece can be written with the structure 4+6, as shown above.

Interpolation is an effective technique because it heightens our expectations and therefore increases the
dramatic impact of the music. Our brain “expects” (subconsciously) each phrase to be balanced, so when
the final phrase is extended in this way we become more alert to the music, waiting for the end to mate-
rialise. It creates a “wait for it!” moment. There is a feeling of tension or suspense, momentarily, which is
only resolved when the final cadence is reached.

• The antecedent is four bars long, and the consequent is six bars long.
• Each phrase comprises two minims followed by several semiquavers.
• The interpolation section begins in bar 7, although the listener will not be aware that there is an
interpolation until bar 8. We are expecting semiquavers, because we heard them in the ante-
cedent phrase in bar 3, and that’s what we get.
• In bar 8, we would normally expect the phrase to end. This means we anticipate longer note val-
ues, most likely a minim or crotchets, and also probably a perfect cadence.
Instead, we hear the exact same semiquaver segment from bar 7, repeated. The cadence is de-
layed, which adds tension and suspense.
• The perfect cadence and longer note values we expected by bar 8 appear in bars 9-10.

This extract is 14 bars long – look at it carefully to see how 14 is achieved with balanced sections! This is
Mozart’s Allegro in F, K15a.

• The antecedent is 6 bars long, and the consequent is 8 bars long.
• The antecedent contains three 2-bar sections. (Remember that the length of a section or phrase
is calculated by the number of strong beats it contains.)
• The consequent contains three 2-bar sections and a 2-bar interpolation.
• In bar 11 we are expecting something similar to bar 5/section C, but instead we hear the rhyth-
mic motif from section B again, as a melodic sequence. The end of the phrase is delayed.
• In bar 13 we get the descending scale semiquaver segment we were expecting in bar 11.

All music from the era we are studying at Grade Six (17th – 19th centuries) is tonal music. What does that
mean?

• It has a key, which must be either major or minor. The key signature at the beginning of every
line states the key of the piece as a whole.
• It may or may not move through other keys (modulate).
• The notes are mainly (but not only) taken from the scale of that key.
• In every key, the most important note is the tonic, and the next important note is the dominant.

Every note in the scale can be harmonised by using one of only three chords – the tonic (I), dominant (V)
or sub-dominant (IV). For this reason, they are known as the “primary” triads.

The aim is for a piece of music to have a clear, unambiguous key. With your music theory skills, you
should be able to look at a score and quickly identify what key the piece is in, and whether it modulates
to any new key(s).

Stating the Key

The main key of a piece will be asserted at the beginning. In the Grade Six composition question this is
especially important, because you will need to work out what key the music is in, in order to continue
writing.

Using the key signature, we can easily narrow it down to either the major or minor of that particular key
signature. But if we, for example, see a key signature of 1 sharp, how can we discover whether the music
is in G major or E minor? There are a few things we can try:

• Work out what the likely tonic is (G or E).
• Find a sharpened leading note (D#)
• Work out the likely primary chords (I, IV and V, or i, iv and V) (or V7)

Which of these factors is the most important? Let’s look at each of these in more detail.

The tonic is the most important note in a piece. It can be reinforced by:

• Occurring on a strong beat (first beat of the bar)
• Being accented
• Being repeated
• Occurring as the highest or lowest note of a phrase
• Being approached by a leap
• Occurring in part of the scale

2. Sharpened Leading Note

Seeing a leading note sharpened with an accidental can be a quick give-away that the music is in the
minor key. However, bear in mind the following points:

• Not all melodies contain a leading note, so the piece might be in E minor but not contain a D# at
all.
• In a descending minor scale passage, the melodic minor is often preferred, which means the
leading note will not be sharpened.
• An accidental may be just a chromatic alteration because it sounds nice, rather than a signal of
the minor key.

3. Primary Chords

The underlying harmony is the most important factor in determining key. The majority of pieces begin
with chord I. A smaller number begin with V, but it’s rare to find any other chord in this position.

Chord I is commonly followed by one of the other primary chords, so in the first couple of bars we would
normally expect to find I, IV and/or V. These chords fix the key of the piece firmly in our mind. As the
melody develops, any other chords can be used of course.

Examples

Let’s now examine two simple “openings” and, by looking at the underlying harmony, try to determine
whether it is the major or minor key in each case. Is this C major or A minor?

• Bar 2 could be i in A minor or vi in C major.
• A minor is a beter choice, using the tonic triad in both bars.

Is this G major or E minor? (The piece is “Rigaudon” by Rameau.)

• There are no sharpened leading notes to help us.
• The notes which fall on the strong beats are G and B – both of these notes are in the tonic triad
of the major and minor chords, so that’s no help.
• The lowest note of the segment is E – a clue.
• There is a 6-note ascending scale of E minor – a clue. G major has only a 4-note stretch.
• E is repeated 4 times, G is heard twice – a clue.
• Bar 1 contains all the notes of the E minor triad, but not of the G major triad – a clue.
• In bar 1, the notes of the E minor triad fall on the beat G-E-G-B. A clue.
• Bar two could be harmonised with i in E minor or vi in G major. vi is not a primary chord, howev-
er. Another clue.
• All the signs suggest that this is E minor.

• There is a sharpened leading note G#. However, there is also a G natural, so we need to be care-
ful.
• The notes which fall on the first beat of the bar are C and G#.
• A is the highest note and is also approached by a leap, which suggests A minor.
• C is repeated three times, A only twice.
• Bar 1 contains all the notes of the tonic triad in C major. This is chord III in A minor – not a prima-
ry chord, and not even a normal chord in A minor, which usually has a G# which makes an aug-
mented triad (C-E-G#).
• Bar 2 is tricky, but could be harmonised with chord IV in C major, with the extra notes consid-
ered to be non-chord notes. In A minor it would be chord iv. This bar doesn’t help us much.
• There are clues in these bars which point us in both directions. In cases like these, always give
more importance to the harmony underlying the piece, rather than melodic clues. It is harmony
which defines a key.
Bar 2 would fit in with either key, so that leaves us with bar 1, which is clearly in C major. There-
fore, this piece is in C major.

“Modulation” is an important sounding word which just means “change of key”. A modulation can hap-
pen with or without a change in key signature. In fact, most modulations don’t require a change of key
signature.

Generally the key signature is only changed when a significantly long portion of the piece is in a different
key. Most often, the key changes only last for a certain number of bars, and then the melody returns to
the tonic key.

You can sometimes tell that a piece has modulated when there are lots of accidentals on the page!

In the Grade Six music theory exam, modulation can happen in your composition in one of two ways:

1. The melody will modulate towards the end and will finish in the new key. (In this case, your
melody is in fact just a section of a larger, as yet unwritten, piece.)
2. The modulation will happen at the end of the antecedent phrase, and will return to the original
key by the end of the piece. (In this case, the piece itself is complete.)

In recent Grade Six music theory exam papers, there has been a choice of questions which is either to

• write a piece which must modulate and finish in the new key (i.e. is unfinished)
• write a piece which is complete (i.e. ends in the original key) with modulation optional.

Be careful when choosing the question, because the key your piece ends in will depend on which option
you choose.

The Mechanics of Modulation

Modulation is usually achieved through the use of a “pivot” chord. A pivot chord is one which exists in
both keys.

Let’s say that our piece modulates from C major to G major (the dominant key). The chords I, iii, V and vi
in C major also exist in G major as IV, vi, I and ii.

Chord: C maj. Chord: E min. Chord: G maj. Chord: A min

Key: C major I iii V vi

Key: G major IV vi I ii

We can pick a pivot chord, then use it as a stepping stone to reach the new key.

It’s always helpful to try to include any notes from the new key which didn’t exist in the original one. If
we modulate from C major to F major (to the sub-dominant), the leading note to tonic progression is not
as striking as it was in the previous example, because the notes E-F exist in both C major and F major.
However, we could include a Bb in our melody (for example, Bb-A-G-F as a falling scale), for a similar
effect.

Where to Modulate to?

In the Grade Six music theory exam, the key you have to modulate to will be one of these four:

• to the dominant
• to the sub-dominant
• to the relative major
• to the relative minor

Of course, in real life it’s possible to make your music modulate to any new key under the sun. You can
make C major modulate to F# major, if you really want to! We will stick to these four for now though.

In all of these modulations, there will be four possible pivot chords, and only one note which needs to be
chromatically altered in the new key (unless it’s minor – see below).

• If you want to modulate from D major to the dominant key, A major, you could use chord V in D
(A major) which would become chord I in A major. Include a sharpened 4th (=G#).
• If you want to modulate from C# minor to the relative major, E major, you could use chord iv in
C# minor (F# minor) which would become chord ii in E major. Flatten the 7th (=B natural).
• If you modulate from C major to A minor, the relative minor, you could use chord vi in C major (A
minor), which would become chord i in A minor. You should sharpen the 5th (G#), and might also
have to sharpen the 4th (F#), if you’re using an ascending melodic minor scale.

It’s worth noting that some of these pivot chords are based on primary chords (I, IV or V). You will find
them easier to use in most cases, because the primary chords are more effective at fixing the new key in
our minds. (For the same reason, they are used at the beginning of a piece.)

You don’t need to learn that table off by heart, by the way! The quick way to work out your pivot chords
is to simply write out the letter names of the scale in the original key (e.g. A major):

A B C# D E F# G#

Then write the letter names of the new key directly underneath (we’ll put the sub-dominant, D major):

A B C# D E F# G#

A B C# D E F# G

Cross out the column which contains notes with a different accidental (G-G# here). The notes you have
left can be used in triads in both keys.

• There will be four triads – write them out so you don’t forget them!

If you decide to modulate at the end of the antecedent phrase, you must remember to return to the
original key by the end of the piece. If you modulate to the dominant, (e.g. C major to G major), you will
need to modulate again from G major back to C major. (You should notice that this is now a modulation
to the sub-dominant). Similarly, if you modulate to the sub-dominant in the antecedent phrase, you’ll
need to modulate to the dominant in the consequent phrase.

• In bar 4, chord I of G major becomes the pivot chord IV of D major. (The E is an accented passing
note).
• Chord V of D major is immediately introduced, consolidating the new key.
• The C#, which is not a note in G major, helps to fix the new key.
• The phrase ends with a perfect cadence in D major.
• The next section begins in D major, but the third beat of bar 5 is a pivot chord; I in D major or V
in G major.
• The C natural helps to confirm that we are returning to the key of G major.
• It’s also interesting to note the interpolation section in bars 7-8.
• The piece ends with a perfect cadence in G major.

• The piece starts in Bb major, and the first phrase ends with a perfect cadence in Bb major.
• Bar 5 contains the pivot chord I in Bb major, which is IV in F major.
• Bar 6 is chord V in F major – the dominant key.
• The E naturals in bar 6 help to fix the key, and also create a V-I progression from bars 6-7.
• The section ends in the new key, with a perfect cadence. This is not the end of the piece. In the
next section, the key will modulate back to Bb major.

The next step is to combine all these elements together and begin to craft your own compositions. At
this point we need to stress that you are composing as part of a music theory exam – not for a composi-
tion exam! In order to get a high score, you need to demonstrate that you know how a composition is
structured and by putting theory into practice.

You don’t get high marks for showing a lot of imagination or by breaking away from the established
rules. As in most areas of art, you need to learn the rules before you break them.

So the best way to begin your composition is by

• reviewing the given opening, and then
• making a plan. After that you can do the
• composing, then finish off by
• polishing.

Reviewing the given opening

• Check the key and time signature of the opening.
• Look at the rhythms, motifs and sequences and decide which elements are characteristic of the
piece.
• Check the length. It will usually be two full bars, but not always.

• Make minor modifications to the given material to complete the antecedent phrase. Think about
sequencing and reusing motifs. Try to use 2-bar sections.
• Make sure your melody fits a suitable cadence (and possible modulation) at the end of the ante-
cedent phrase.
• Make minor modifications to the antecedent phrase to make the consequent phrase.
• Don’t forget to include an interpolation if you want to.
• Make sure the consequent phrase ends on a perfect cadence in the right key.

Polishing

• Double check that the instrument which you’ve written for can actually play the notes you’ve
written. This shouldn’t be a problem unless you’ve written very low or very high notes. Don’t
forget that the flute and oboe cannot play lower than middle C.
• Add in performance instructions. You should indicate the dynamics, phrasing and articulation
and maybe also expression. Articulation is especially important for all wind instruments – the
players need to know whether each note should be attacked with the tongue or not. Use phrase
marks to show which notes should be played in one breath or sweep of the bow. Make sure your
wind player has somewhere to breath! Add bowing marks to string music.
• Double check that you have not made any silly mistakes like writing the wrong number of beats
in a bar. In particular, if the piece started on an up-beat, make sure the last bar contains the right
number of beats.
• Sing your melody through in your head, quite slowly. Make any adjustments or improvements
which seem necessary.

“Continue this opening to form a complete melody for unaccompanied flute. It should end with a modu-
lation to the relative minor and should be between eight and ten bars long. Add performance directions
as appropriate.”

1. Review the Opening.

• It’s in A major. (The question tells us to modulate to the relative minor, so we know it must be ma-
jor!)
• It’s in 4/4 time.
• The first bar is basically a falling tonic triad with an added B as a passing note. There is a leap of an
octave. The second bar moves by step for the first two beats, then there is a falling perfect 4th.
• The section is 2 bars long. The next section will start on the last beat of the bar. The final bar will have
three beats in it.

2. Make a plan

• I will decide to write a 10-bar composition. The antecedent phrase will be 4 bars long, and the conse-
quent will be 6 bars and contain an interpolation section.
• The music has to modulate to F# minor by the end.
• The given opening appears to end on a V chord, so the antecedent should probably end on I, in order
to prevent repetition.
• I will make the music modulate in bar 9. D major is a pivot chord, because it is IV in A major, and VI in
F# minor. The end of the piece will be a perfect cadence, C# major to F# minor.
• I can write out my plan like this:

• First I need to complete the antecedent phrase.
• Because the first bar was I, and the phrase will end on V, I’ll use notes which are part of the
chord IV to add some variety - I’ll invert (turn upside down) the sequence from bar 2 using the
notes of the D major chord.
• I’ll then add a big leap of a 10th up to high C#, in an echo of the octave leap in bar 1. This is a
piece for flute, which is quite at home playing in that register.
• I’ll start the section after a quaver rest, which will give the flautist a chance to catch her breath.

• Next I’ll take the motif from the first beat of bar 1 and write a sequence which starts one step
lower down the scale. This means my section ends on G# which also fits chord V, making the ca-
dence at the end of the phrase imperfect.

• The next section is the start of the consequent phrase. I need to develop the material from sec-
tion A first.
• Again I give the flute player a quaver rest. I’ll start the next section on G#, because the previous
section started on a repeated note after the rest (E).
• I use the same rhythm from bar 1, and use the notes from the same chord (I). However, in bar 1
the figure starts on C#, so I’ll start on A for variety. Instead of leaping up an octave, I’ll go up a 5th
to A, so that I can sequence bar 5 a 3nd higher than bar 2.

• Finally we need to write the last section based on section B.
• We assume that chord IV in A major is now VI in F# minor. We need the notes in the next bar to
fit chord V (C# minor), so that we can incorporate a perfect cadence and also to include the E#
which will help to fix the new key.
• I’ll sequence bar 3. I invert the first half of the bar.
• The second half of the bar is similar in that it’s a falling triad. At this point I add the octave leap
(up to C#).
• The final bar is a sequence of bar 4.

• All the notes would be easy to play on a flute. However, I need to look carefully at the end of
each section. In some places there is a quaver rest, in others there is not. We need to be con-
sistent, while bearing in mind that the player needs to breathe. Since the first note of the piece
is a crotchet, I think it will be better to start both phrases with a crotchet. However, I can begin
the two section Bs with a quaver. I need to change bars 4 and 8 accordingly.
• I need to add some phrasing, articulation, dynamics and breath marks. I will try to keep the
phrasing and articulation of similar sequences the same throughout. The piece will start loud,
become softer, then crescendo during interpolation, finishing again quite loud. I use commas to
show suggested breathing places.

You can expect to find a score for any combination and any number of instruments. Usually, one of the
scores will be for a full orchestra, and the other will be for a smaller group of players, for example a pi-
ano, cello and voice, or a string quartet.

You will have to bear in mind that some of the musical parts are for transposing instruments, and they
will not be written at concert pitch. You’ll have to be able to read the viola’s alto clef, and the tenor clef
is likely to crop up too. This means that if you are, for example, asked to describe a chord played by the
full orchestra, you will need to simultaneously tranpose some notes and read some awkward clefs. With
practice though, it’s not as hard as it sounds! Let’s get started by dissecting an orchestral score.

Orchestral Music

Symphonies and concertos are examples of “Orchestral Music”. A full symphony orchestra can have up
to 90 or more musicians. The majority of them are string players, with a handful of woodwind, brass and
percussion players thrown in.

A symphony is a piece written for the whole orchestra with no particular soloist. A concerto is a piece
written for one (or sometimes more) solo instrument, and the orchestra provides an accompaniment.

Here is the first page of the full orchestral score of Beethoven’s 5th Symphony. This is the first 11 eleven
bars. Notice how the score is arranged:

• Each stave is labelled on the left with the name of the instrument which plays it.
• Woodwind and brass instruments are preceded by a number – this is the number of players
who should read and play from one stave. Often there are two flutes, two oboes, two clarinets
and two bassoons, for example. But there will only be one flute stave, one oboe stave, one clari-
net stave and one bassoon stave. Both players’ parts are written on the same stave. (This saves
space!)
• Instruments are sometimes followed by a number, I, II etc. This is not the number of actual play-
ers, but shows that there is a second (or more) stave assigned to that instrument. In the Bee-
thoven score, there is a part for Violin I and Violin II. In fact, around 12 violinists will play stave I,
and another 10 or so violinists will play stave II.
• When there is one solo instrument plus orchestra, it is often marked as “principale”.
• Expect to find the instrument names in Italian, German or French, depending on the nationality
of the composer.
• The instruments are always written in the same order from top to bottom.

Each family of instruments is grouped together with a square bracket on the left – notice how the first
square bracket connects the flute, oboe, clarinet and bassoon parts.

Barlines are drawn through all the wind and percussion parts, and then through the string parts. You
might see variations on this, however.

Staves are connected together like this to create a “system”. This system contains 12 separate staves.

This is the first page of the score, so all the instruments are included even if they have nothing but rests.
In subsequent systems, the names of the instruments may be left off or abbreviated, and staves which
contain nothing but rests are not included. This saves paper when a symphony is printed!

There are two different parts on one stave. In the flute part in bar 18, the first flute will play the higher
notes, and the second player takes the lower notes. This is sometimes marked in the score as “div.” or
“divisi”, meaning “divided”.

Sometimes when parts overlap, one note is written with two stems, one pointing up and the other point-
ing down. In the flute part bar 20, both players should play the C.

There is one part on one stave for all/both players. In the horn part in bar 18, it is marked “zu 2”, which
means “both players”. In Italian this is written as “a 2”. In French it is “a deux”. A string part may be
marked as “unis.” which stands for “unison”, meaning all the string players should play that single part.

Only one player should play the part. In this case, you will see the word “solo”.

Following an Orchestral Score

It’s easy to feel a bit overwhelmed when you look at orchestral scores for the first time. But don’t panic –
here are some tips to help you get more familiar with them.

Remember that many instruments are likely to be playing more or less the same notes. In bar 22 of the
Beethoven, the orchestra is playing in unison, which means everybody is playing the same notes (alt-
hough in different octaves!)

Often, the fast moving notes will be the melody, whereas the harmony will be written with slower note
values (this is a generalisation though).

You can browse through many orchestral scores for free. Visit http://imslp.org/wiki/Main_Page and
search for symphonies or concertos. This is a legal database of out-of-copyright musical scores in pdf
format. Use Youtube.com to find recordings of any scores you find, and try to follow them as the music is
playing. Try to follow the stave for one particular instrument. Start with something easy (a slow move-
ment, an instrument you are familiar with) and as you get more confident, try faster pieces or staves
with tricky clefs or for transposing instruments.

A sonata is a piece for a solo instrument with a piano accompaniment. A string quartet is written for two
violins, a viola and a cello. A lied is a piece for voice and piano. Lieder were made popular by Schubert in
the 19th century.

Chamber music scores follow the same principal as orchestral scores. Instruments are written in the
same order as they would appear in an orchestral score. When there is an instrumental or voice part
plus piano, the piano part is written underneath.

Look at the following score, which is the first page of a Quintet for piano, oboe, clarinet, horn and bas-
soon by Mozart (KV 452). It contains two systems.

Notice the following points:

The clarinet part is written for a Bb clarinet, transposed (Clarinetto in B).

The horn part is written for horn in Eb (Corno in Es).

Faggoto is Italian for bassoon.

A piano part is always written on a double stave, joined with a curved bracket on the left.

Unless otherwise marked, the pianist plays the top stave with his right hand, and the lower stave with
his left. Occasionally, the player is instructed to “cross arms”, i.e. the left hand crosses over the right
hand to play high notes, or the right hand crosses the left to play lower notes. This is written in the score
as r.h. (right hand) or l.h. (left hand) in English. In Italian, you will see M.S. (mano sinistra) for left hand,
or M.D. (mano destra) for right hand.

In a piano part, the upper stave is usually in treble clef, and the lower stave is bass clef. However, if par-
ticular high or low notes are needed, the clefs can be changed. In the Mozart score, the left hand starts
in the bass clef. In the same bar, a treble clef is then written so that the next three quavers can be writ-
ten neatly (without lots of ledger lines). The clef changes to bass clef again – the new clef is written be-
fore the barline when the clef change applies to the next bar. Look closely at the score and see how
many clef changes you can spot in the left hand piano part.

The voice part is labelled “Singstimme”, which means “singing voice”. Notice how the piano part right
hand starts in the bass clef, although a treble clef is placed at the beginning of the line. Always be on the
look out for changes of clef!

In older scores, it was common for notes to be left unbeamed in the voice part, unless the notes were
sung to the same syllable. In the above score, in the first full bar, the syllable “A-” is sung to the notes A
and G, so they are beamed together. The second syllable of the word is “-bend”, which is sung to the F.
Because this is a separate syllable, the F is not beamed to the previous two notes.

In more modern scores, this method is less common, and notes are beamed as they would be for in-
struments, regardless of syllables; a slur is placed over notes which should be sung to the same syllable.

(You can listen to this piece for free at http://www.hyperion-
records.co.uk/dw.asp?dc=W2371_GBAJY9000814&amp;vw=dc - click on the "Listen to All Extracts" on
that page.)

• which are the standard instruments in each family, and which other instruments are commonly
used in a symphony orchestra
• the names of the instruments in Italian, German and French, including the plural forms and ab-
breviations (you only need to be able to recognise the names, not give them)
• what key(s) transposing instruments are in, and how these keys are written in other languages
• which instruments use a single or double reed to produce sound
• what note each string is tuned to, for string instruments

We’ll look at each of these points in turn.

a. Orchestral Families. The orchestra is divided into four families, the woodwind, brass, percussion and
strings. The main instruments and additional common orchestral instruments in each family are:

b. Instrument Names. Many instrument names in Italian, German and French are quite similar to the
English – or close enough for you to be able to work out. Some of them are, on the other hand, com-
pletely different. These are the ones you need to memorise!

Here are two tables of vocabulary – table 1 is “Easy” and table 2 is “Learn Me!”

c. Transposing Instruments. The clarinet, cor Anglais, trumpet and French horn are transposing instru-
ments. The note which actually sounds at concert pitch when the player reads/plays the note C deter-
mines what pitch the instrument is “in”. For each of these instruments, the concert pitch note is lower
than the written note.

• Clarinets are usually in Bb or A.
• The cor Anglais is in F.
• The trumpet is usually in Bb.
• The French horn is usually in F, and is sometimes found in Eb.

In addition, you should note the following:

• The bass clarinet is in Bb and sounds a major 9th lower than written (one octave lower than the
Bb clarinet).
• There is a smaller version of the clarinet in Eb, which sounds a minor 3rd higher than written.
• Trumpets can be found in other keys, such as C (non-transposing), or D (sounding a major sec-
ond higher than written).
• The piccolo sounds one octave higher than written.
• The double bassoon sounds one octave lower than written.
• The most commonly used size of trombone is the “tenor trombone”, which is sometimes called
the Bb trombone. However, it is not treated as a transposing instrument in orchestral scores,
and its notes sound as written.
• The double bass sounds one octave lower than written.

You also need to know that the letter names we use for the notes (A-G), and the names “sharp” and
“flat”, are translated in different ways.

English A Bb F Eb D

Italian/French La Si bemolle/bémol Fa Mi bemolle/bémol Re

German A B F Es D

The English note B is called H in German. (J. S. Bach used to “sign” his manuscripts with the notes B-A-C-
H, which would be Bb-A-C-B in English!)

d. Reeds. The oboe, cor Anglais, clarinet and bassoon are reed instruments (as are the larger/smaller
versions of these instruments). The clarinet uses a single reed, whereas the other instruments all use a
double reed.

e. Open Strings. When a string player plays a note without pressing a finger down anywhere on the
string, this is called an “open note”. If the player touches the string, the vibrating length of the string is
shortened and the note produced is higher.

The note produced by the open string is the lowest note possible on that string, and it is the note which
the string is tuned to.

You need to know what notes are produced on the open string for each of the four string instruments.
You might be asked, for example, to circle in a score a note which could be played on an open string. So,
you need to know not only the letter name, but also which octave the note is in.

Here are the notes which the string instrument strings are tuned to:

Notice that the viola and cello are tuned to the same notes, except the cello is an octave lower.

Notice that the violin, viola and cello are tuned in 5ths, whereas the double bass is tuned in 4ths.

Don’t forget that the double bass sounds an octave lower than written (which is why we’ve put a little 8
on the clef here).

It might help you to remember these tunings if you notice that the double bass strings are the same as
the violin’s in reverse order!

The more common bowing instructions should be learnt for grade six music theory:

Arco With the bow
Spiccato Bounce the bow
Sul ponticello Play near the
Con sordino bridgethe mute
With
Up bow
Col legno With the wood of
Tremolo the
Movebow
the bow up
Pizzicato and
Pluckdown extreme-
the strings
Senza sordino Without the mute
Down bow

5. Other Symbols

The following symbols also need to be learnt:

Arpeggio (broken chord). The lowest note is played first, followed by the second,
third etc, in quick succession.

Tremolo (rapidly repeated note). Short diagonal lines across the stem of a note (or
notes) show that it should be rapidly repeated. Often you will see “trem.” written
above the note as well. A tremolo is a kind of special effect.

Glissando or portamento (rapidly play the notes between the two notated). This is
sometimes seen in piano or trombone music. The musician plays all the notes in
between the two notated notes as fast as possible.

Measured semiquavers. This is a shorthand way of writing out semiquavers or other
fast notes. The beams show you which note value is intended. Although it looks simi-
lar to a tremolo, it doesn’t sound like one.

Stopped note. Used for the French horn, this cross instructs the player to move
his/her hand further into the instrument’s bell to create a muffled sound.

If the composer has changed the mood of the piece, he has probably changed quite a few of the ele-
ments we discussed in point a). A mood change can be from racing to plodding, jolly to melancholic,
blaring to peaceful or joking to serious. How does a composer achieve this?

Tempo. Has the composer written a new tempo direction? Has the time signature changed?

Dynamics. Has the composer used different dynamic markings, or fewer instruments to achieve a
change in volume?

Rhythm and melody. Has the composer started using longer/shorter note values, or made the melody
go a lot higher/lower? The general note range of a melody is called its “tessitura”. You can say the “tessi-
tura has become higher”, for example.

Texture. Has the composer changed which instruments are playing? The word “texture” refers to the
thickness of sound. A full orchestra with all instruments playing has a thick or heavy texture. If this is
reduced to just the strings, the texture is thinner or lighter.

Modality. Has the key of the music changed from major to minor?

Articulation. Has the composer changed from a smooth legato to a spiky staccato?

In the following extract from a Menuet by d’Indy, the change of mood is easy to spot with the double
barlines showing the start of the new section.

How has the composer created the change of mood though? The piece is orchestrated for flute, oboe,
clarinet, horn, bassoon and piano.

• The tempo is a little slower.
• The dynamics are slightly quieter.
• The rhythm is built of longer note values (crotchets and minims, compared to quavers and semi-
quavers).
• The texture is lighter because not all the instruments are playing at the same time.
• The key has changed (to Bb major).
• The articulation has changed from tongued/staccato to legato.

The overall effect would be that the mood has changed to a calmer, more sedate feeling.

When you are presented with a score in the grade six music theory exam, you might be asked to deter-
mine the key at any point in the score. There are three basic ideas to bear in mind:

The key that the piece starts in is its main key. The piece is “in” that key. The piece will end in the same
key.

The music might modulate to another key. A modulation is a key change which is substantial, settled and
lasting. It lasts for several bars and may or may not be accompanied by an actual key signature change.
Modulations often happen when the mood of a piece changes, or a new section is started. With a modu-
lation, a new tonic is established.
When a modulation occurs without an actual change of key signature, we can describe the new key as
the “prevailing key”.

The music might pass through any number of keys. If a key is “passed through”, it is only touched upon
for a very short time – just a few bars or less, for example. It is not “settled” – we don’t get the feeling
that a new tonic has been established. Instead, we feel that the key of the music is in transition, moving
somewhere else. A piece of music might “pass through” one or two keys before reaching a “modula-
tion”.

At whatever point in the score you are trying to work out what the key is, keep in mind the basic princi-
ples that

• a key is most often established with a dominant-tonic relationship
• key changes are often supported by chords which make up the most common cadences
o perfect (V-I)
o imperfect (I-V or IV-V)

This means that you need to

• look carefully at the supporting harmony (don’t rely on the melody alone!)
• make a note of which chords are used (e.g. D major, G minor…)
• find the key which has those chords as I, V or IV (the chords should be next to each other).
• if more than one key uses those chords, look at the other melody notes for more clues.

Let’s look at some real life examples. This is the beginning of “Morning” from the Peer Gynt Suite by
Grieg, arranged for cello and piano. It begins in E major.

C# minor is chord vi in E major, but is used as a pivot chord here, leading us to the new key. (A pivot
chord is one which exists in both the old and new keys).

G# major is chord V in the key of C# minor. This is i-V in C# minor.

It’s possible then, that the piece has modulated to C# minor by bar 8, with an imperfect cadence. Re-
member, however, that a modulation needs to last - we need to sense that we have "arrived" at a new
key and are not still "passing through". We check the next few bars to check whether the new tonic is
indeed C#.

In bars 9 and 10, the chord is again G# major. This means there is a complete absence of C#s in these
two bars, so it is unlikely that C# minor is the new key. In fact, since chord I establishes the key, we can
assume that G# major is chord I. The music has in fact modulated to G# major by bar 8. The fact that this
chord is repeated and falls on the strong beat also makes it a more likely to be the new tonic.

Where does this leave us with the C# minor chord in bar 7? C# minor does not occur in G# major. There-
fore, in bar 7, the music simply passes through C# minor.

Up until bar 11, we see a lot of B naturals, as would be expected in C minor (the 7th degree of the scale is
sharpened).

In bar 14, however, B flat is used instead of B natural. The notes of the piano chords are Bb-D-F-Ab,
which is chord V7 in Eb major. (It would be chord VII7 in C minor – the major chord formed in that key by
not sharpening the 7th degree of the scale). In bar 16, the Eb major chord is stated as the new tonic – the
music has modulated to the relative major key of Eb major. (See the next unit for more on “7” chords).

The modulation starts in bar 14 with the introduction of the B flat, and is confirmed in bar 16 by the ap-
pearance of the new tonic Eb major chord.

In bars 17 and 18, the E natural and F sharp notes are chromatic passing notes. They don’t affect the key
of the piece as they are just a form of melodic decoration. (See the unit on melodic decoration in part A
for more on this).

You might be curious about the chord in bar 21. This is an “augmented sixth” chord – so-called because
there is an interval of an augmented sixth above the bass note (Ab-F# here). There are different types of
augmented sixth chords, and this type is known as a “German sixth”. You’ll learn more about these
chords in grade seven music theory.

To sum up, this piece is in C minor. It modulates to the relative major key, Eb, and then returns to the
original key of C minor.

When working out the key or modulations of a piece of music, don’t forget that sometimes you will have
to transpose parts (or read awkward clefs) to work out what notes are being played. It can be confusing
to work out the key of an orchestral piece, so let’s have a go!

This is the beginning of the slow movement of Brahms’ 2nd symphony.

First look at the key signatures here – it’s easier to check the key signature of the non-transposing in-
struments to get started. Here, the non-transposing instruments (e.g. violin, flute, oboe, cello…) have
five sharps – so is it B major or G# minor?

The double bass and bass tuba both have long F#s – sustained (or repeated) notes are always a good
indication of key. The cello and bassoon, on the other hand, have a fragment of a melody. Melodies are
less easy to use to determine key.

In this case, the double bass and tuba look like good candidates for showing us what the key is, so we
will focus on them.

The next notes played by the double bass and bass tuba are D# and B. Clearly, the piece is in B major, not
G# minor. Why? Because F# is the root of the dominant (V) of B major, and D#/B are part of the tonic
triad (I). (In G# minor, F# is the root of the unsharpened 7th degree of the scale (VII), which is never a
likely chord for the opening of a piece.)

Always look for the parts which move slowly or by leaps (i.e. intervals larger than a 2nd) – these are likely
to be the parts which are providing the harmony.

Parts which move mostly quickly, or by step, are more likely to be supplying the melody. We need to
analyse the harmony of a piece to determine its key.

You’ll be asked to identify the chord by name, state its position, say whether it is major, minor, aug-
mented or diminished, and you may also have to name the prevailing key (see Lesson 5 on Key).

Don’t forget to double check the key signature and clef of any instruments used in the chord. If one of
the instruments is a transposing instrument, you’ll need to work out what note is actually sounding at
concert pitch.

In this section of the exam, you might come across seventh chords. We will discuss these in a moment.
First though, let’s revise the basics of chords.

Chord Names

Chords can be named in three basic ways.

1. By letter name, e.g. “C major”.
2. By Roman numeral e.g. I or i. In order to use the Roman numeral system, you need to know
what the prevailing key of the music is. (Remember that the prevailing key is the key at that
point in the music).
Capital letters are used for major chords, and lower case letters for minor chords.
Augmented chords are written in capital letters with the symbol + (e.g. III+) and diminished
chords are written in lower case with the symbol ° (e.g. vii°).

Chords which have three different notes in them can be major, minor, augmented or diminished. To find
out what type of chord you’ve got, put the notes together as closely as you can – you should have three
notes which are a third apart – a triad.

For example, this score has a chord built with four notes, but only three of them are different:

The cello has C#, the viola has A, the second violin has E, and the
first violin has A. This means we have three notes: C#, A and E. If
we stack them in thirds, they look like this:

The bottom note is the chord’s name – this is a chord of A.

Next, calculate the exact interval between the lowest and middle, and then middle and top notes.

For example, A-C# is a major third. C# to E is a minor third. The pattern major+minor means the chord is
a major chord. There are four possible patterns of triads:

If there are four different notes in the chord, it will be a triad plus the seventh (in the grade six music
theory exam) – the note which is an interval of a minor seventh above the root (its lowest note).

In the grade six music theory exam, seventh chords are restricted to the dominant seventh and the su-
pertonic seventh (in major and minor keys).

Look at the lowest note of the triad. This is the bass note. (If there are several instruments playing the
chord, you’ll need to look carefully to see which one has the lowest note.) Find out whether the bass
note is the root, third or fifth of the chord.

The root is the fundamental note of the triad

The third is a third higher than the root.

The fifth is a fifth higher than the root.

Root in bass = root position Third in bass = first inversion Fifth in bass = second inver-
sion

The flute and bassoon parts are easy in this extract. Generally flute parts will always be easy, but make
sure you are comfortable reading the tenor clef for bassoon parts. Bassoon parts often switch clef (from
bass to tenor in most cases), so watch out!

There is no oboe contribution in this extract. Oboes are easy instruments (to read) too, as they also play
at concert pitch.

The clarinet part is a little harder. Clarinets come in many sizes, with the Bb, A and Eb being the most
common. It’s not unknown to find a part for clarinet in C (i.e. non-transposing) either. In this case, we
know that the clarinet must be a transposing instrument, because it’s using a different key signature.
But is it a clarinet in A, Bb or something else?

Start by looking at the key signatures in use. The clarinet is using a key signature of G major, whereas the
non-transposing instruments have E major. This means the written notes are a minor third higher (be-

Make sure you understand this concept, because sometimes the excerpts don’t mention which kind of
clarinet is being used, and with instruments like the cor Anglais the transposing pitch is not usually writ-
ten because it’s always the same (cors Anglais are always in F).

You can also remember the phrase “C that you see = concert pitch key” to help you.

For example:

concert pitch Bb on the Bb clarinet

concert pitch F on the horn in F
C that you see =
concert pitch D on the trumpet in D

etc.

The horn part is also transposed. Here, you are told that the horn is in E. You will always be told the spe-
cific transposition for a horn or trumpet part, because, traditionally, brass parts are often written with
no key signature. Because C (horn part) = E (concert pitch), you need to transpose the notes up a major
third. The written G is a concert pitch B.

With brass instruments, you can’t work out the transposition from the key signature (as was done with
the clarinet above) if the key signature is left out.

So, we have the notes B, F# and D#. Put together, they make the triad of B major.

The lowest note is in the bassoon part – F#. Therefore, this is a second inversion chord.

The full description is: “Tonic chord of B major (I) in the second inversion.”

The key signature of two flats means we should start by assuming the key is either Bb major or G minor.
The double bass plays G-D-G-D in the first two bars, which would be the root of the tonic and dominant
triads in G minor (G minor and D major). In the fourth bar however, B natural and A flat are introduced –
and they appear again in the 6th bar. In the 7th bar there is an A natural. If we look at the notes in use
(from the 4th-7th bars) and lay them out in order, they are:

Ab – A – B – C – D – Eb – F – G

These are the notes of the C minor melodic scale. The Ab appears in the descending scale, and the A
natural and B natural are in the ascending scale. At this point then, the prevailing key of the music is C
minor.

Next, we can see that the notes of the chord are C, Eb and G. These are the notes of the tonic chord (i) in
C minor.

Finally, we check the lowest note of the chord, to work out what position it’s in. Don’t forget that double
basses are transposing instruments at the octave, so the note you see written actually sounds an octave
lower. (It doesn’t make any difference here, because it’s the lowest notated note anyway, but that isn’t
always the case). The lowest note of the chord is Eb, which is the third of the chord.

So, this chord is a “tonic, first inversion minor chord in the prevailing key of C minor”.

As you can see, identifying chords at this level requires knowing more than just how chords work. Make
sure you are super confident about:

• which instruments transpose and at what interval
• reading the alto and tenor clefs
• working out the prevailing key

Ornament symbols were added to music for several reasons. They allow some freedom of interpretation,
they cut down printing costs, and they allow the basic structure of the music to be more visible.

We’ll examine each ornament in turn.

Note that if there is a small accidental written with the ornament, you’ll need to add that accidental
when the ornament is written out in full too. (See the turn for an example).

The trill

The trill (or “shake”) is a rapid alternation between the note written (called the “principal” note), and the
note above. Trills can be very tricky to write out indeed, as the way they are interpreted has always been
very subjective and the rules have changed over time. Try to keep to the following basic rules, however:

The trill can start on the note itself or the note above. In earlier music (up to about 1800) the trill usually
started on the note above, after 1800 it starts on the note itself.

The trill is most often written out in semiquavers or demisemiquavers. The number of notes you need
depends on the length of the written note. For example, a crotchet will need 8 demisemiquavers.
Beam the demisemiquavers in subdivisions of fours, to make them easier on the eye (see the first exam-
ple below).

Sometimes a trill is preceded by an acciaccatura – this means you should start the trill on the acciaccatu-
ra note.

The trill should end on the principal note. This means you might have to add a triplet figure at the end.

In this first example, the trill starts on the higher note because it is (imaginary) Bach (pre-1800).

In this later (fictitious) example (Mendelssohn was born in 1809), the trill starts on the principal note. A
triplet is added at the end, so that the trill also finishes on the principal note.

The turn consists of four notes: the note above, the principal note, the note below, the principal note
again.

Turns can be performed after the written note, or instead of it, depending on where they are written. A
turn written directly above a note replaces that note. A turn written after the note should be performed
after the note is sounded.

Turns can be written using any note value which is basically fast.

The first example here is from a piano Sonata by Beethoven. The turn is written after the note, so we
play the Bb first, then the turn.

It can be tricky working out what values to write for each note. The Bb is a dotted quaver, and we need
to squeeze five notes into the same space. We can break the dotted quaver down into three semiqua-
vers, then put a triplet into the middle semiquaver beat.

The next example comes later in the same piece. This time the turn is directly above the note, so it starts
on the C. In this case, the four notes of the turn are divided equally into the semiquaver beat.

The mordent

There are two kinds of mordent – the lower mordent, and the upper mordent. The mordent consists of
three notes.

The lower mordent starts on the principal, then the note below, then the principal again.

The upper mordent is the same pattern, but using the note above the principal.

Here are some general guidelines:

The ornament starts on the beat itself (not after)

The first two notes are played very quickly, and the third note is sustained for longer.

The lower mordent symbol has a short line through the middle. (Think “Line=Lower”).

There are no hard and fast rules about what note values to write, but notice here that semiquavers are
common in the music already. The mordent should be quicker than any note values already commonly
used.

This upper mordent appears in a Sonatina by Benda (a Czech 18th century violinist and composer). Notice
here that the pace is calmer than in the previous example, with quavers and crotchets in use.

The mordent can be performed with semiquavers (demisemiquavers would be ok too).

The acciaccatura

When an acciaccatura is performed, the principal note remains on the beat and the ornament is
squeezed in beforehand. The ornaments usually consist of just two notes – the “crushed” note and the
principal note.

Sometimes, though, you might find two or more notes in an acciaccatura – in which case they will all
have to be squeezed in before the beat!

Acciaccaturas are notated with a small-size quaver with a slash through the tail.

Acciaccaturas are performed very quickly.

As the principal note falls on the beat, the acciaccatura has to “steal” its time from the previous note.

In this example from a Bagatelle by Beethoven, the acciaccatura F# has to steal some time from the D
before it, so that the E quaver remains on the beat.

Write the acciaccatura with a semiquaver or demisemiquaver, then work out how much of the previous
note is left.

A pedal is a note which is repeated or held for some time, while the chord above changes. For example,
a tonic pedal might be found in the bass, while the chords in the higher parts change from tonic to su-
pertonic to dominant:

The C in the bass clef is the pedal:

Pedals are also often found on the dominant.

Pedals can be inverted. Usually a pedal is found in the bass, but sometimes it can be found in a higher
part, in which case it is an “inverted pedal”.

Pedals can be sustained. A sustained pedal is a long held note. An unsustained pedal is a repeated note.
In the example above, the pedal is not sustained. If we replaced the four crotchets with a semibreve, it
would be sustained.

In recent exam papers, the following types of question have come up – here’s how they differ from
grade five music theory:

Transposing a few bars. In grade five you are told the interval to transpose by, e.g. the clarinet in Bb
should be transposed “down a major 2nd”. At grade six, you need to work out the interval yourself.

Rewriting in a new time signature. At grade six, you’ll need to locate the section of the score yourself,
then work out how to change the time to compound/simple without changing the rhythmic effect.

Intervals. Like in grade five, you need to be able to name any interval in any key, as major, minor, per-
fect, augmented or diminished. At grade six, you might first have to transpose notes to concert pitch to
work out the interval, you’ll need to know which are the transposing instruments, and be able to read all
the clefs. You might get a harmonic (vertical) interval which emcompasses two different instruments,
using two different clefs, playing at two different transpositions.

How would you work out the harmonic intervals marked A-D in the same score?

• Start by double checking the clef, key signature and transposition of the instrument.
• Mark down each note as it sounds at concert pitch on a scrap of manuscript paper.
• Then work out the interval in the normal way.

(See the grade five music theory course if you have forgotten how to work out intervals!)

A little later in the same piece, the flutes have the following passage:

The time signature is 4/4. How would you write out the boxed passage, keeping the rhythm the same
but using a compound time signature?

Remember that with a simple time signature, there are X number of plain beats per bar, (X is the top
number of the time signature). In a compound time signature, you keep the same number of beats, but
make them dotted. So instead of having four plain crotchets per bar, we need four dotted crotchets,
which means the new time signature will be 12/8. (See the grade five music theory course if you need
more help with this). Here is the answer:

Notice the use of duplets and tuplets.

• “Duplets” are used when two notes are sounded in the space of three.
• “Triplets” are used when three notes are sounded in the space of two.
• “Tuplets” can be of any number – just write the number of notes (of the same value) you’ve got,
which replace whatever the usual number should be.
• Duplets, triplets and tuplets should be beamed together, or slurred if there are no beams.

You will normally have a choice of four, and will sometimes have to give a reason for your choices.

The extracts chosen for the exam will always be typical of their era – you won’t be tricked with a piece
which was written in Modern times, but is Classical in style!

You won’t need to be able to differentiate between composers of the same era. You only need to know
which composers are from which era, and what are the characterics of music from that era, not the indi-
vidual characteristics of the composers themselves.

Periods

The musical periods are usually broken down into hundred year stretches (in the exam). We can give
these periods names:

You can sometimes easily find a clue to the period by checking what instruments are playing.

• The clarinet did not exist in Baroque times
• Piano music barely existed in Baroque times
• The harpsichord was used in Baroque times but became less popular in later eras
• In general, the size of the orchestra was much smaller in Baroque and Classical times, and at its
biggest in the Romantic period.

Texture

“Texture” in music refers to the way instruments combine with each other in an ensemble.

In the Baroque era, each instrument/voice was often weighted equally, with separate melodies woven
together intricately to make a harmonious sound. Each part would be quite independent. This is called
counterpoint. We can say the music has a “contrapuntal texture”.

The following piece is by Bach (written for “clavier”, which means “keyboard instrument”- either the
harpsichord or clavichord).

Another common contrapuntal genre from the Baroque period is a vocal composition called the “cho-
rale”. The harmonisations and figured bass exercises in the grade six music theory exam are all based on
the chorale style.

This is an example by Buxtehude, from his harmonisation of “Wie soll ich dich empfangen”, for two so-
pranos, bass and a “continuo” (figured bass) part. Notice how the voice parts enter one after another,
with the same melody (one at an interval of a 5th) in the same way as in the above fugue.

Not all Baroque music was contrapuntal in texture, but if you do see music written like this it’s likely that
it will have been written by a Baroque composer.

In the Classical era, the texture of music is generally less “complicated” than in the Baroque era. Music of
the Classical era tends to sound light, clear and elegant. Instead of being mostly “contrapuntal”, at this
time music was mostly “homophonic”.

Homophonic (which literally means “sounding together”) usually means there is a single melody which
has an accompaniment based on chords. (Compare this to “contrapuntal” music, which has several mel-
odies woven together.)

Notice how much richer the texture is. Instead of there being a simple melody plus accompaniment, the
parts are more involved. The clarinet has the melody, but the first violin imitates it a beat and a half off-
set. The second violin, viola and cello have a complicated quaver/triplet accompaniment, which will
sound much heavier than the crotchets in the Mozart quintet.

The piece is in 3/4, but rather than having, say, three crotchets or perhaps six quavers in a bar, there is a
huge amount of rhythmic movement going on. In the first bar alone, there are notes being played at 11
different instances- each crotchet beat is divided into triplets, but the second two crotchet beats are also
divided in normal quavers. This makes the texture sound dense.

Modern era music is not really defined by texture – modern composers tend to be very experimental,
and use all kinds of textures.

Harmony

In Baroque and Classical music, pieces were usually written in one key for long stretches. Modulation
was usually only to related keys, the relative major or minor, the dominant, or occasionally the subdom-
inant.

Romantic music tends to use more melodic chromaticism (adding flats or sharps to the music because “it
sounds nice”, rather than only for modulation purposes).

In Modern music, many composers abandoned the diatonic system, which is the system using major and
minor scales as a basis for a piece.

Some composers experimented with building pieces based on other types of scale. For example, Debussy
exploited the pentatonic scale (the 5-note scale you get by playing only the black notes on a piano).

You can explain your choice in the grade six music theory exam by saying the “harmonic language is typi-
cal of X era”.

Expression

Each musical era developed organically from the previous one, and there will be overlaps. We can define
each era roughly, however, in the following ways.

Baroque music

• Marked with a tempo, articulation markings and ornaments.
• Not usually marked with “expression” directions written in words.
• Dynamics often change abruptly. One section will be soft, the next will be loud, without a cre-
scendo in between.
• The mood of a piece will remain the same throughout.
• Melodies are often long and energetic.

Classical music

• Expression directions are sometimes used, but not heavily.
• Dynamics can be gradual, with long crescendos or decrescendos.
• The mood of a piece can change considerably as the piece progresses.
• Melodies are shorter than in Baroque music.

Romantic music

• Directions for expression are abundant and descriptive.
• Dynamics change frequently, either gradually or suddenly.
• The mood of a piece is more dramatic – tragedy, comedy or romance, for example.
• Melodies are often more lyrical, song-like.

• Expression directions can be incredibly precise and may not be restricted to the “traditional”
Italian terms.
• Dynamics may go to extremes or be used for special effects.
• The mood of a piece and types of melody used are completely open to the composer’s imagina-
tion. They may be atonal (not built from notes which correspond to a known scale), discordant
(jarring chords), modal (based on a very old scale system) or something else altogether.

In fact, it’s rare to find a Modern piece in the grade six music theory exam, although they do crop up
from time to time. The main give away that a piece is Modern is that it doesn’t conform to any of the
other categories, particularly in its harmony. Although a large number of modern pieces are diatonic,
just like in the other eras, in an exam situation you will normally be presented with a non-diatonic piece
if it is Modern.

If you have to give reasons for your choice of era/composer, you can use some of the following, depend-
ing on the music you have. (You can replace the words in brackets with whatever is appropriate):

harmonic language

texture

(piano) (Bach)
The
instrumental combination is characteristic of (Mozart)

melodic style is not characteristic of (Beethoven)

use of dynamics (Debussy)

ornaments
The lack of
expression marks

Further help

Quite often the extract you have to identify is from a famous piece of music. The broader your
knowledge of music in general, the easier this question will be. Use the free resources around you and
try to listen to a wide range of music every day. You could try:

• Tuning in to your local classical radio station (many are online too)
• Watching videos on Youtube.com
• Exploring the free MP3 recordings available via http://www.classiccat.net/ and
http://imslp.org/wiki/Main_Page
• Borrowing recordings from your local music library
• Take a look at some of the series on the MyMusicTheory blog. Although not aimed at exam stu-
dents specifically, you will find the http://blog.mymusictheory.com/guide-to-music/ useful for
revision purposes, and also for further listening.